The making of the West Indies. The Gordons as colonists

The Making
. of the .
West Indies

THE GORDONS
AS COLONISTS

BY J. M. BULLOCH

BUCKIE :
Privately printed by W. F. Johnston & Sons

National Librae of Scotland
*B000248139*

The Making of the West Indies

The Gordons as Colonists

[BY J. M. BULLOCH.]

Perhaps the most important fact of our Domi-
nions beyond the Seas at this moment is the good
fortune of which is to come to the West Indies
through the opening of the Panama Canal. Most
of us to-day are inclined to regard the West Indies
as the Cinderella of Empire. They certainly struck
Mr Chamberlain very forcibly in that light, and
had as much as anything to do with his conversion
on the fiscal question. But • time was when they
were rare money-makers, especially to Scotsmen,
who played a notable part in their development.
Many a laird of to-day can trace the possession of
his acres to the West Indies, and Glasgow has a
special cause to be grateful.

The West Indies, forming an archipelago stretch-
ing from Florida to the north coast of Venezuela,
include 40 inhabited islands, with a total area of
100,000 square miles, or a fifth less than the United
Kingdom. The islands vary in size from less than
two miles square to 44,000, which is the size of
Cuba. Great Britain owns nearly 13,000 square
miles of them, with a population of 1,400,000, and
many a north country soldier laid down his life
to help us to get possession of them.

Many causes went to check the prosperity which
once was theirs. That, however, belongs to the
thorny subject of political economy. Of far greater
interest to us is the personal note — who were the
men who helped to develop our holdings there?
In the absence of any regular attempt to tell this
story completely, I have tried to find out how the
Gordons had the guidin' o't.

The task is not easy, for, as in the case of
Jamaica, many of the ©Id records have been
destroyed. But as if in anticipation of the

3

renaisance of the West Indies, historians have had
a great quarry of material placed at their disposal
in the opening to the public of the Slave Com-
pensation papers. On August 28, 1833, an Act
(3 and 4 William IV., C 73) was passed for the
abolition of slavery throughout the British colonies
and for the promotion of industry among the
manumitted slaves, and for compensation to the
persons hitherto entitled to the services of such
slaves by the grant from Parliament of £20,000,000.
Thus, slavery terminated in the British possessions,
770,280 slaves being freed by August 1, 1834, while
four years later slavery was abolished in the East
Indies. In assessing the slave owners' claims, a
vast amount of interesting material was got by the
Compensation Commissioners. This material, forming
part of the Treasury Papers, was deposited in the
Public Record Office, London, on June 23, 1892,
but was made available for the public (by a
Treasury letter) only so recently as March 17, 1913.
The papers fill no fewer than 184-7 volumes, and
are catalogued by the general designation
"T.[reasury] 71." They consist of several classes,
of which these are the most important : —

Registers of Slaves (665 volumes) — T.71, 1-665.

Valuers' Original Returns— T.71, 666-833.

Claims and Certificates— T.71, 852-1089.

Counter Claims— T.71, 1090-1502.

Indexes— T.71, 1503-1531.

Small Registers— T.71, 1533-1595.

Great Registers— T.71, 1596-1607.

I need scarcely say it has not been possible for
me to go over all these documents, but I have
taken out all the Gordons from the Registers, and
students who wish to follow this up can easily do
so, because I have given the number of the claim,
which runs through all the different classes of
inquiry into it. I have supplemented these facts
from other sources, so that we get a fair idea of
who was who in the West Indies, so far as the
great house of Gordon was connected. I arrange
the lists alphabetically in colonies.

ANTIGUA.

Discovered by Columbus in 1493, this island
occupies 108 square miles, or just one-sixth of
Banffshire, which is 641. It was settled by the
British in 1632, and became a crown colony in
1898. It is now the seat of government of the
Leeward Islands. It is the only one of the West

4

Indies to have had its history thoroughly cleared
up, for De Vere Langford Oliver has written an
account of it running into three folios of 1379
pages (1894-9).

Adam Gordon witnessed the will, dated April 19,
1808, of George Powell, Antigua. Am Adam was
a merchant in Antigua on November 23, 1819
(Oliver's "Antigua," i., 33, 354).

Alexander Gordon, 57 Old Broad Street, London,
together with Samuel Martin and William Man-
ning, got under trust, August, 1829, the planta-
tions of James Nibbs, Antigua (Oliver's "Antigua,"
ii., 297).

Charles Gordon of Custom House, Parham. He
had a son,

Charles Campbell Gordon, who got from his
grandmother, Mary Hunt of Parham Town (will,
Dec. 23, 1808) three negroes and £1250 (Oliver's
"Antigua," i., 352). As agent for Susanna Gordon,
he made a return of her slaves, eight in number,
on Sept. 20, 1817 ; and as agent for Margaret
Gibbs, he made a return on the same date for one
slave, "Jenny," aged 50 (P.R.O., T.71, 1531, pp.
21, 24).

Daniel H. O. Gordon got £104 Is 8d compensa-
tion for eight slaves (Oliver's "Antigua," i., 313).
He was executor for Susannah Gordon (q.v.).

George Gordon, major in the 8th West India
Regiment, died at Antiqua, after a few days' ill-
ness, in his 23rd year, on Oct. 28, 1809.

Henry Gordon, surgeon at Dr Buckshorn's, was
buried Nov. 23, 1743 (Oliver's "Antigua," ii., 27).

James Gordon, laird of Knockespock (died 1768),
owned several estates in the West Indies, to which
he went out as a young man. He was the son of
George Gordon (one of the Gordons of Auchlyne,
cadets of the Terpersie Gordons), who bought
Knockespock from John Gordon, the famous Jaco-
bite laird of Glenbucket, about 1708; and who
founded the third group of Gordons in possession
of Knockespock. George Gordon was succeeded in
Knockespock by his son James, the West Indian
nabob, and the latter was succeeded in turn by
the descendants of his sister Margaret, who married
a Brebner, then by the descendants of his sister
Barbara, who married a Grant, and, thirdly, again,
by the descendants of his elder sister, the Brebner-
Gordons, who are now known as Fellowes Gordon —
a peculiarly complicated story of succession. For
our present purpose, it is enough to deal with the
Antiguan estates of the family. JameB of Knockes-

pock may be the James Gordon who was nominated
to the Colonial Council in 174-3 (Acts of the Privy
Council, England's Colonial Series). The estates
were : —

Lavingtons : 185 acres, of which 155 were culti-
vated (Oliver's "Antigua," ii., 27). I do not know
when this estate was bought by the Knockespock
Gordons, but in 1836 it was in the possession of
James Adam Gordon (1791-1854), who was the
great grand-nephew of the aforesaid James, being
the great grandson of the latter's sister, Margaret,
who married James Brebner, Towie, and had a
son, James Berbner (1723-1807), who became a
judge in Grenada, and took the name of Gordon.
There were 152 slaves in the estate of Lavingtons
in 1836. Counter claims were entered by Sir
William Abdy, bart. ; Sir Thomas Fellowes, the
Rev. George Caldwell, Cheltenham ; and James
Adam Gordon, of Naish House, Portbury, Somerset,
as owner in fee. The claimant withdrew the claim
in favour of himself and the other claimants, and
the counter claimants were awarded £2289 14s 8d.

Martin's estate. — This property was leased in
1738 by James Gordon (apparently the great grand
uncle of James Adam Gordon), and was purchased
by him in 1767 from Valentine Morris. In 1799,
it was held on trust for James Brebner Gordon.
It contained 126 acres (Oliver's "Antigua," i., 379).

Gales estate. — This property, of 300 acres, was
in the possession of R. Rigby in 1746, but had been
acquired by James Gordon of Knockespock, who
devised it in 1766 in trust for his nephew, Captain
F. Grant Gordon, whose son, Col., afterwards
General Sir, J. Willoughby Gordon, owned it in
1806 (Ibid., i., 384).

Monk's Hill.— 172 acres, all pasture (Ibid., ii., 27).

Osborne. — 217 acres, all pasture (Ibid., ii., 27).

Sandersons. — 311 acres, of which about 230 were
cultivated. It contained 314- slaves in 1836. There
were the same counter claims as in the case of
Lavingtons, and the counter claimants got £4627
lis lid (P.R.O., T.71, 1558, claim 342).

Jane Eliza Gordon married on Dec. 11, 1817,
Captain Wright Knox. She was the "daughter of
the late G. G. Gordon, Antigua, and niece of the
late Sir Willoughby Aston, bart." ("Gentleman's
Magazine," vol. 87, part ii., p. 628). As a matter
of fact she was the daughter of Captain Francis
Grant Gordon (died 1803) and sister of Sir J.
Willoughby Gordon of the Knockespock family.

6

Mary Grant Gordon got £412 for 24 slaves,
January 16, 1837; claim 1051 (Oliver's "Antigua,"
L, 318).

Mary Jane Norman Gordon, St John, married,
April 11, 1865, Oheeseman Moe Braithwait (Ibid.,
i., 383).

Nathaniel Gordon married, Dec. 7, 1701, Mary
Albert, widow, of St John's parish (Ibid., ii., 27).

S. Gordon, St John, as executor for S. Gordon,
got £98 5s 2d for 10 slaves, Nov. 23, 1835 (P.R.O.,
T.71, 1558, claim 821).

Sarah Gordon. Thomas Kippin, executor for
Sarah Gordon, and attorney for Sarah Gordon,
Susan Gordon, Elizabeth Gibson, deceased, and
Margaret Gibbs, joint owners in fee, St John,
claimed for two slaves (P.R.O., T.71, 1558, claim
823). Kippin, as executor of Sarah Gordon (who
was executrix of Elizabeth Gibson) got £56 16s 8d
for six slaves, 1836 (P.R.O., T.71, 1558, claim 824).

Sarah Ann Gordon was the daughter of William
Lynch, planter, Antigua, whose will, dated Aug. 8,
1775, was proved, Jany. 23, 1788. She married

■ Gordon, and had three children, William,

Charles, and Elizabeth, all beneficiaries under
Lynch's will (Oliver's "Antigua," ii., 205).

Susannah Gordon, St John, owner in fee, claim-
ing through Thomas Kippin, got £104 for eight
slaves, Nov. 23, 1835. There was a request for an
amended award in favour of Daniel H. O. Gordon,
executor of the estate of Susannah Gordon, de-
ceased. At this time Daniel H. O. Gordon was
21 years of age, and the amended award was made
to him (P.R.O., T.71, 1558, claim 826).

Captain William Gordon, with one male slave,
appears in a census of the island in 1753 (Oliver's
"Antigua," i., p. cxii.).

Dr William Gordon, with one male slave, was
also in the census of 1753 (Ibid.). He is probably
the William Gordon, siirgeon, who married Mary
Lillie, St John's Parish, Feb. 14, 1754, and had
William, baptised Feb. 19, 1755, and George, bap-
tised Nov. 28, 1756 (Oliver's "Antigua," ii., 27).

William Gordon, "merchant, many years resident
in this island, who died July 27, 1847, aged 37
years," is commemorated by a marble scroll erected
"by a few friends," on the west side of St John's
Cathedral (Oliver's "Antigua," ii., 28).

BAHAMAS.
The Bahamas include 670 islands and islets, caller
cays [CAYS] or keys, embracing 5450 square miles

7

and having a population of 60,000. No Gordons
owned slaves there. But, indeed, I have found
only one Gordon at all, namely,

Eev. William Gordon, a Scotsman, who was a
missionary there, sent out by the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel. His chief station
Exuma, 1789-95 : then Harbour Island and Elen-
thera, 1795-99, when he resigned ("S.P.G. Records,"
5th ed., p. 884).

BARBADOS.

Barbados, which is 166 square miles, je one of he
West Indian islands where the Gordons went —
sparingly ; for only one family craved compensation
from the Slave Commissioners in 1836. This is
probably due to the fact that the island had been
used as a penal settlement for the Jacobite
prisoners, so that the word "Barbadosed" came to
be a euphemism for banishment. In Southey's
"West Indies" (ii. 211) it is stated that in 1716,
"one hundred of the prisoners taken at Preston in
Lanrashire, who had been confined in the Savoy,
were shipped off to the West Indies." Mr Gra-
ham Cruickshank, of the Audit Office, British
Guiana, suggests in "Notes and Quesies" (July 27,
1907) that Barbados, " a favourite isle of banish-
ment," probably got its share though he has been
unable to trace the arrival of any such prisoners.
It is much more certain that the prisoners of 1745
were sent there. Thus, Jesse in his "Memoirs of
the Jacobites" states (p. 275) that a large number
of prisoners were shipped there. Mr Cruickshank
has a copy of an "Indenture," signed by 127 Jaco-
bite prisoners, who were apparently sent to Bar-
bados in the ship "Frere" in 1746. The list
includes 20 Macdonalds, 19 Mackenzies, and 16
Grants; 112 of the prisoners sign by "mark."

Curiously enough, one of the Gordons who we
know definitely was in Barbados was a typical Gor-
don in the art of getting into trouble, although he
actually wore the cloth ; while another who came
to loggerheads with authority was a public official
holding the post of Provost Marshal.

George Gordon was appointed Provost Marshal,
May 21, 1707 ("Harleian" MSS., British Museum,
2262 p. 29). He was soon in trouble under the
following circumstances. By two Acts, passed in
the General Assembly of Barbados, in 1707 and
1708, the Committees and Commissioners of As-
sembly were empowered to appoint their own
marshals, and the judges of the Court of Common

pleas had also taken on them to do the same, re-
fusing to admit the deputies nominated by Gordon.
So Gordon petitioned against this curtailment of
his rights. On February 18, 1710, the Board of
Trade, which Gordon had petitioned (June 9,
1709), reported that the Governor had been directed
to move the Assembly to pass an Act for settling
a salary or reasonable fee on the several judges,
and for restoring to the clerks and marshals the
fees mentioned in the Acts ("Acts of the Privy
Council of England": Colonial).
Robert Gordon, Barbados and St Nevis, married

Jessie Anne , who died May 8, 1913 ("Times").

Their eldest son was

Robert Gordon, who married, 27 Sept., 1905,

in the Church of St Andrew, Framingham Earl,

Constance Jane Alston, eldest daughter of the

late Edward Graham Alston, Queens Advocate,

Sierra Leone ("Times").

Robert Charles Gordon and his son (also Robert

Charles) claimed in 1836 through Jacob Rogers,

parish of St Michael, their attorney, for three

slaves (P.R.O., T.71, 1005, claim 1487).

Captain Simon Gordon deponed on July 25, 1660,
that he and "several other free Englishmen" had
emigrated by the "William and John" in 1821 for
Barbados ("Cavaliers and Roundheads in Barba-
dos," p. 27). He is apparently the Simon who is
commemorated by an epitaph in St Stephen's
parish, Herts. (Cusans' "Hertfordshire," ii., 284-5) :
"Here lyes the body of Captain Simon Gordan of
Bornhill in Harfordshire, who died the 18 day of
October, 1669, aged 68 years, and was married to
Sarah Hoste 18 years, 3 qvarters : by whom he had
issve 2 sons and 3 davghters. Of honest birth, of
marchant fame, a man of worthy fame, a captain
of St Christophers, Simon Gordan by name. From
burning sone to frosen sone, his youthful years he
spent. The wonders of the Lord he saw to his
soul's great content. Religious was his life to
God; to men his dealing just. The poore and
strangers they can tel that wealth was not his
trust. His soul to God he did commend, his body
to the dust, wheare he sings continual prais in
glory with the just." His daughter Martha (died
Nov. 30, 1736, aged 81) married Edward Shippery
(died March 2, 1724), apothecary, London.

Thomas Gordon was an executor under the will
of Claudius Hamilton, and is mentioned in a peti-
tion of May 31, 1741 ("Acts of the Privy Council
of England: Colonial").

9

Rev. William Gordon was a fine fighter : his oppo-
nents went the length of calling him a rascal. I
do not know his origin; for though he wrote a sort
of autobiography as a preface to a thanksgiving
sermon, which caused a world of worry, he is
vague. "I am," he says (p. xxiv.) "the son of a
worthy gentleman, of a very ancient family : I
have the education of a gentleman." He then
goes on to tell his story thus (p. xxix) : — "In May,
1699, being just then come from Oxford, I was by
the Rev. Dr Forbes recommended to the Bishop of
London, but for want of age, and no other quali-
fication, I was not admitted into holy orders.
However, his lordship sent me with a licence under
his episcopal seal to teach a Latin school in the
quality of King's Chaplain to the West Indies.
As such, he commended me first to the Treasury,
where I received His Majesty's bounty money to
defray the charges of my voyage, and as such he
recommended me to the Governor of Barbadoes."
Now, whether he was at Oxford I cannot say. He
is not in Foster's list of alumni. But he certainly
got a post there, for in a list of sixteen letters
from the Bishop of London to the Lords of Council
soliciting the usual bounty of £20 for chaplains
going abroad occurs the name of Mr William
Gordon, schoolmaster to the Barbados, May 27,
1699 ("Treasury Papers," vol. 64, No. 59); William
Gordon, clerk, Barbados, May 3, 1699 (Gerald
Fothergill's "List of Emigrant Ministers to America,
1690-1811," p. 30) ; also January 10, 1700-1711 (ibid.,
p. 30). Continuing his narrative, Gordon says
(p. xxx.) that he arrived in Barbados in "July or
August," 1699, "and for six or seven weeks, and
no longer, I lodged with a fellow passenger of
mine, one Mr Curtis, eat [ate] as he did, and slept
in the same chamber, having intended to embrace
an offer he made me of my accommodation and
a house to teach school in, in consideration of
instructing him and his brother in the Latin
tongue, provided nothing better offered. But his
Excellency, the then governor, and the Rev. Mr
Cryer, having advised me to join schools with the
Rev. Mr Callow, Rector of St Philips, I did so,
and we equally divided the profits, without being
any more his usher than he was mine, for about
two months, and then returned to Oxford, and at
the Christmas term following was ordained pub-
lickly at St Paul's, after being examined by the
Bishop of London, Bishop Beveridge, Dr Stanley,
Dr Ishan, Dr Altham, and Mr Melling, as by

10

their certificate of approbation, endorsed upon my
diploma for my master of Arts degree, and ready
to be produced . . . will appear. [One cannot
verify this, because, as Dean Inge tells me, the
records at the Cathedral do not go so far back.]
In April following I was sent by the Bishop of
London to have the first vacancy in this island
[Barbados], who was pleased in his letter to the
then governor to say as follows: — 'I cannot let
this ingenious young gentleman return without
recommending him to the first vacancy, etc' "

Gordon was first Rector of St James's, where he
delivered a funeral sermon on his friend Codring-
ton, the governor, who died in that year at the
age of 42, leaving his Barbados estates to found
Codrington College there, while he also left £30,000
to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel,
and benefited All Souls' College, Oxford. The
sermon, which is in the British Museum, is en-
titled :—

"A sermon preach'd at the funeral of the Honour-
able Colonel Christopher Codrington, late Captain,
General, and Governor-in-Cbief of His Majesty's
Carribbee Islands, who departed this life at his
seat in Barbados on Good Friday, the 7th of April,
1710, and was interr'd the day following in the
Parish Church of St Michael." By William Gordon,
M.A., Rector of St James's-in-Barbados. London :
printed for G. Strahan at the Golden Ball over
against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill, MDCCX.,
4to, pp. 24. The sermon is dedicated to the
President, Vice Presidents, and members of the
S.P.G., Gordon giving us a little autobiographic
touch : —

"I had the honour of enjoying a large share of
his favours and of being the happy companion of
his studies and retirements for the two last years
of his life. I am, upon good grounds, perswaded
that, had he been sooner apprehensive of his death,
he had done yet greater things for the advance-
ment of learning and piety." The sermon, which
was preached from the text, "We know that when
He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we
shall see Him as He is" (1st John, iii., 2), is typical
of the rotund rhetoric of the period, as this extract
proves : —

Codrington, we are told, "was particularly careful
to form his style upon the great models of anti-
quity. Some of them he equalled; some of them
he excelled. His style was fluent, but not turgid;
florid, yet natural and unaffected; elegant, but
11

not over wrought or forced. In his studied and
elaborate composures there was an inimitable
beauty and efficacy, whereby he would at once
charm the affections, move passions, and convince
the understanding, with such surprizing turns,
such impetuous force, such solid reasons, that he
spoke nothing but Life and breathed a Soul into
the dullest argument he treated of. And yet his
care of his style did not at all cramp the exactness
of his most refin'd and abstracted enquiries, for
every thought was plac'd in the most advantagous
light as well as dress'd in the gayest manner, and
every period was just and had a natural cadence.
In the same discourse he would display the orator
and the philosopher to so great perfection that it
was hard to determine in which he most excelled."
Gordon fell out with the Assembly, which in an
address of June 28, 1715, describes him as "a person
of scandalous and infamous life." In July, 1716,
the Bishop of London without, says Gordon "my
privity or application, was pleased to send me a
commission to be his commissary of Barbadoes."
He at once went to the Governor, Robert Lowther,
asking for the latter's allowance. Lowther did not
think this permitted by his instructions, and asked
Gordon to produce further evidence from the
Bishop. Notwithstanding this, his Excellency,
through his Deputy Secretary, Mr Lenoir, requested
Gordon to preach a thanksgiving sermon for the
"happy suppression of the late unnatural rebellion,"
which Gordon duly did, on August 18, from the
132nd psalm (verse 18). But the effect only served
to widen the breach between the Governor and
the parson. So Gordon took occasion to wait on
His Excellency with his notes, and "humbly prayed
His Excellency to point out what passages he
thought liable to exception. First he told me that
I was mistaken in matters of fact, particularly in
saying that the Church of England stemm'd Popery
in King James's time, for it was not the Church
but the Nobility and Gentry. To that objection
I took the liberty of answering that I conceived
the Nobility and Gentry to be the Church of
England. The second objection was my having
reflected on His Majesty's best subjects and calling
them 'fanatics' ; repeating, I called them his best
subjects, for 'tis notorious they are so. To this
I answered that I hoped the church were as good
subjects, and that I neither meant nor intended
any more by the name 'fanatics' than a genus to
comprehend the several species of Dissenters. The

12

third and last exception was my having charged
the Dissenters with the late rebellion. I told him
that, on the contrary, I had laid it on men of
different principles, and pressed him to read my
notes, which he refused to do, and seemed, as I
apprehended, fairly well satisfied."

Gordon set up an ecclesiastical court, which
sat on Oct. 25, 1716. His action seems justified
in view of the fact that the Bishop of London
sent a letter, dated Feb. 14, 1717, in support of
Gordon's authority. Lowther was furious. In a
letter, of April 26, he answered that he would not
admit Gordon's commission till he had seen some
authority from the King as granting it. He also
represented Gordon a very unproper person, giving
the following description of him : — "You could not
have pitched on a more insidious, restless, med-
dling, and ambitious person than Mr Gordon. . . .
You could not have appointed a worse liver and
more flagrant incendiary, nor one who hath given
greater marks of disaffection to our happy estab-
lishment. Two-thirds of his time he spent in
gaming, trading, and caballing and mischief-mak-
ing. He came a contracted servant to this island.
After he was out of servitude, he got to be an usher,
then into Holy Orders ; after that to be a parson
of St. James's Parish, and then to be a parson of
St. George's, where for many months together he
neither administered the sacraments, visited the
sick, preached, prayed, christened, buried, or per-
formed any pastoral duty whatever. In short, he
left his flock often and so long, and went so
frequently from thence to the Leeward Islands,
that the Antegeonians called him the 'Wandering
Apostle,' and the French at Martinique, 'La Mar-
chand Spiritual.' Notwithstanding all which, all
his profligate patrons (Mr William Sharp and Mr
William Walker) preferred him to a lenfice of
£600 a year, which he now enjoys ; but where's
the wonder, since he had been their tool so long
and is a man so entirely after their own hearts?
The sermon he preached on the day of thanks-
giving, which I appointed to be observed for the
happy suppression of the last unnatural Rebellion,
was nothing but a virulent satire against the King's
best subjects and friends. He had the impudence
to assert that the Whigs were the promoters and
contrivers of the late Rebellion, that it was from
them all our animosities arise, and from them all
our dangers proceeded."

Gordon thereupon wrote, on Dec. 12, 1716, the
13

little autiobiographic account which I have quoted
and sent it to the Governor, who declined to read
it. He defended himself vigorously on all the
objections raised. The Council unanimously re-
solved that the evil character assigned to Gordon
was true, and thanked the Governor for his letter
and for opposing the attempt to erect a spiritual
court in the island. An Act was also passed
depriving Gordon of his living. Gordon came home
in the beginning of September, 1718, and by way
of vindicating himself issued his Thanksgiving
Sermon with a long preface (pp. iii-xliii) : —

"A sermon preach'd before the Governor, Council,
and General Assembly of the Island of Barbados
in the parish church of St. Michael, on Friday,
the 18th of August, 1716, being the Thanksgiving
Day appointed by His Excellency, Robert Lowther,
Esq., for the suppression of the late Unnatural
Rebellion : by William Gordon, M.A., Rector of
the Parish of St. Michael : London" [the rest of the
title page as preserved in the British Museum is
missing]. In his preface he says : — "I am sensible
that the following sermon, which is now printed
to vindicate me from the charge of disaffection
therein to our present Happy Establishment,
brought against me by His Excellency, Robert
Lowther, Esq., His Majesty's Governor of Bar-
bados, is too incorrect to appear in print. But
since there was a necessity of publishing it, I have
done it without the alteration of one single word,
choosing rather to expose the reputation of my
understanding than my correcting the least little
of the sermon to give my enemies a handle to call
my sincerity in question."

On Dec. 17, 1718, the Grand Jury of Barbados
thanked the Goevrnor for opposing the ecclesiasti-
cal court. The address was printed in the "Post-
man and Whitehall Evening Post" on May 4, 1719;
soon after which, there appeared a scandalous libel
entitled "A Representation of the Miserable State
of Barbados, under the arbitrary and corrupt
administration of His Excellency, Robert Lowther,
Esq., the present Governor." It was proved by
several affidavits before Lord Chief Justice Pratt
that Gordon wrote a preface to the pamphlet, and
procured the whole to be printed in London. On
Oct. 15 ,1719, the Governor, with the advice of the
Council, published a "Declaration in answer to the
libel." Then Gordon brought an action for £10,000
against Lowther's attorney, Gallatius Maomahon,
for losses sustained through the publication of the
14

"Declaration." Lowther therefore prayed that
execution be respited on any judgment obtained
against him by Gordon, on his giving sufficient
security in England to answer His Majesty's final
determination. On Oct. 20, 1722, it was reported
to the Privy Council that the Attorney General
recommended that the Act of May, 1720, be con-
firmed, and that repealing it disallowed, but sub-
mits whether the petition should be granted, as
that would be in effect to make a new law for this
particular case. As to Mr Cox's behaviour, the
Attorney General had had no proofs before him,
nor had any opportunity to hear the parties con-
cerned ("Acts of the Privy Council of England :
Colonial").

I cannot say what happened to Gordon — whether
he went back to Barbados or stayed in England.
BERBICE.

Berbice is not one of the West Indies ; it lies
on the mainland of South America ; but it may
be included in the present category, for it is
nearer the West Indies than any other part of our
Dominions beyond the Seas. It was settled in
1626 by the Dutch, who surrendered it to the
British in 1796, 1803, and finally in 1814, so that
it is celebrating its centenary as a British posses-
sion. It was united to Demerara and named
British Guiana (q. v.) in 1831. The first Gordon
connected with it was Robert Gordon (the maternal
grandfather of Adam Lindsay Gordon), who was
governor there. Other Gordons were : —

Christian Gordon had three female 6laves, two
born in Africa and one in Berbice, in 1817 (T.71,
422, p. 158). They were Elsey, 25 years of age;
Venus, 35; and Mary, nine weeks. Christian Gor-
don could not write, but made her "mark."

George Gordon died at Berbice after a few days'
illness, Nov. 15, 1820. "He was a gentleman of
the brightest talents and of the most polished wit.
His society was courted by men from the ease and
eloquence of his manners and the maturity of his
judgment. He had been appointed President of
the Court of Justice at Berbice by the late Gover-
nor Bentinck, but it was vacated only a few weeks
before his death by the reappointment of a Mr
Beard, who had been superseded from the office.
Mr Gordon has left an amiable widow to mourn
his loss, in which all who had the honour of his
friendship will sincerely sympathise" ("Scots Mag.,"
vol. 8, N.S., p. 284, March, 1821; condensed in the
"Gent.'s Mag.," vol. 91, pt. 1, p. 185).
15

Robert Gordon, governor of Berbice. He was a
younger son of Robert Gordon, of Hallhead, and
grandfather of Adam Lindsay Gordon, the poet,
as may be best understood by stating the facts in
tabular form : —

Robert Gordon of Hallhead :

married Lady Henrietta Gordon,

dau. of 2nd Earl of Aberdeen.

William Gordon, Robert Gordon,

Captain, R.E. Governor of Berbice,

(1764-1803). died 1814.

Adam Durnford Gordon, = Henrietta Gordon,
died 1857 | married 1829.

Adam Lindsay Gordon,
1833-1870.

Dr William Gordon, of Berbice, was charged at
Bow Street in 1813 with a breach of the peace, in
putting in bodily fear Hugh Ross by sending a
challenge to him. The "Times" (Aug. 10, p. 3,
col. 5) says that Gordon called Ross a coward for
slandering his character, when the doctor was 4000
miles off ; and that he was "shrunk from his desert"
under the pretext that he intended to attack him
[Ross] with a law suit. The letter enclosed a
placard calling Ross a lying scoundrel and a base
coward, "to which the doctor signed his name and
which was threatened to be posed wherever his
name is known, unless within two years after the
receipt of it he acted the part of a gentleman.
The doctor stated that he should deliver the letter
with his own hand at ^-e residence of Mr Ross.
The letter contained a variety of other violent
language and charges against Mr Ross. The de-
fendant after this sent a note to the prosecutor
called "Ultimatum," which desired Mr Ross to
acknowledge in writing that his statement of the
transaction between them was true, and that what
he had said of Dr Gordon's character was not
correct and ask pardon or suffer the most degrading
insults. Mr Kinnaird, the sitting magistrate, after
a suitable admonition to Dr Gordon on the heinous
nature of his offence, ordered him to find bail and
to keep the peace till next term, himself in £500
and two sureties in £250" ("Times").

William Gordon, of the plantation Maida, on the
east coast of Berbice, who was dead by Dec. 1,
1817, held 184 slaves, the return for whom was
16

made by John Cameron, curator. Two of them,
aged 16 and 17, both born in Berbice, bore the
name of Gordon (P.R.O., T.71, 422, p. 153).

Sir William Duff Gordon and John Murphy held
the plantations, Profit, Support, and Relief, on the
west side of Berbice, with 275 slaves, the return for
whom was made by Lewis Cameron, Dec. 19, 1817
(P.R.O., T.71, 422, p. 108). Sir William (1772-1823)
was the son of Alexander, Lord Rockville, the grand-
son of the 2nd Earl of Aberdeen, and the first cousin
of Robert Gordon, the Governor of Berbice. He had
property in Spain and Mexico and was in partner-
ship with Murphy, under the title of Gordon,
Murphy, and Company.

DEMERARA.

Demerara, like Berbice, is also in British Guiana.
There were two Gordons there : —

Robert Gordon, late of the Hope estate, was
married at Demerara to Miss Anne Parkinson,
June 3, 1804 ("Scots Magazine," vol. 66, p. 806).

T. W. Gordon, of Demerara, was dead by May
28, 1832, when his second daughter, Julie, married
at Chealsea, G. A. Starling, M.D., of Bishop Stort-
ford ("Gentleman's Magazine," vol. 182, part i., p.
558).

DOMINICA.

Dominica, one of the Leeward Islands, lies be-
tween the French islands of Guadeloupe and Mar-
tinique. It was discovered on a Sunday (Dominica)
by Columbus in 1493. Like most of the West Indies
its ownership is a chequered history. It was taken
by the British in 1761 ; retaken by the French in
1781 ; and restored in 1783. It has an area of 305
square miles.

Hugh Gordon sailed, 1796-7, from Gravesend to
Dominica, and got a command in the St. George's
Light Infantry, at Rouseau. He took part in a
fight with a French privateer, which carried off a
large sugar-laden sloop (owned by a captain in the
regiment). He was in garrison in 1803 during the
insurroction at Guadeloupe, and in 1804 was sent
to the Prince Rupert's garrison. In 1805, he took
part in the defence of Dominica against the French,
and returned to England the same year. He seems
to be the Hugh Gordon, "late of Dominica," who
married at Macduff, Oct. 27, 1807, Catherine,
daughter of the Rev. Thomas Wilson, minister of
Gamrie ("Scots Mag.") ; she died at Dee Castle,
Aug. 10, 1810, after a long illness, aged 22: "her
sweetness of manner and amiable disposition had
17

endeared her to her relatives and gained her the
esteem of all who knew her" ("Aberdeen Journal'").
He seems to be the Hugh Gordon, Esq., "late of
Dominica," who was the father of the Rev. Geo.
Gordon (1808-39), minister of Knockando (1833-39).
Hugh Gordon was apparently the author of
"Sketches and Revolutions of the West Indies," by
a Resident: London, Smith, Elder & Co., 1820:
dedicated to James Laing, Esq. of Streatham Hill,
London, "late of Dominica."

Jane Gordon, spinster, Roseau, St. George, got
£140 10s Id compensation for nine slaves, Nov. 23,
1855 (P.R.O., T.71, 1562, claim 828).

Janet Gordon, Roseau, got £19 5s 8d compensa-
tion for one slave, Nov. 20, 1835 (P.R.O., T.71,
1562, claim 1020). See also St. Vincent.

John Gordon and James Matthews, Providence
estate, St. Patrick, got £2247 13s lOd for 102 slaves
on their estate ; and £1706 14s 9d for 85 slaves on
the Bedminster estate, St. Patrick, on Nov. 16,
1835 (P.R.O., T.71, 1562, claims 768 and 769).
Gordon and Matthews, as surviving partners of
Alexander Sutherland, were mortgagees under a
deed dated Dec. 4, 1821, for £2044 5s 9d with
interest at 6 per cent, from Jany. 1, 1826, against
the slaves in possession of Marie Adele Beamish,
and raised a counter claim on the estate of Henry
John Glanville and John Henry Newman, Morne
Estate, St. Martin, Dominica, 1835 (P.R.O., T.71,
1562, claim 169).

John Gordon of Roseau, parish of St. George,
and Charles Alfred Francklyn, Tobago (as assignees
of Martha Fleming Otley, of the mortgage dated
March 25, 1750, secured on a moiety of the estate,
£2400, with interest at 5 per cent, from April 30,
1824), put in a counter claim to Thomas Coles,
Hatton Garden estate, St. Andrew's parish, Domi-
nica, who had 225 slaves (P.R.O., T.71, 1562, claim
144).

Lucinda Gordon, Roseau, got £38 lis 5d com-
pensation for two slaves, Nov. 30, 1835 (P.R.O.,
T.71, 1562, claim 926).

W. Gordon, "Esq., of Dominica," had a daughter,
Elizabeth Sophia, who married, Dec. 5, 1827, at
Chelsea, James Rae, R.N. ; Gordon was dead at
the time ("Gentleman's Magazine," vol. 97, part ii.,
p. 556).

William Gordon, of Banff and Dominica, died
before July 16, 1854, on which date his widow,
Mary, died at Walton House, Eastway, Kent, aged
18

90 ("Gentleman's Magazine," New Series, vol. 42,
p. 314).

GRENADA.

Grenada, the southmost of the Caribbees, con-
tains 133 square miles. Discovered by Columbus
in 1498, it was settled by the French in 1650 ; taken
by the British in 1762; retaken by the French in
1779; and given up to us by them in 1783. It is
the headquarters of the Windward Government.
Few Gordons seem to have been connected with it.

Harry Gordon, Observator plantation, parish of
St. Patrick, got £4498 Is 9d compensation for 167
slaves, Nov. 16, 1835 (P.R.O., T.71, 1561, claim 703).
This may be Harry Gordon of Knockespock (1761-
1836), who was an officer in the army, and was
taken prisoner at Seringapatam. His father, Col.
Harry Gordon, R.E., of Knockespock (died 1787)
spent his last years in Grenada, though he died at
Eastbourne.

Peter Gordon, brother of Colonel Harry Gordon,
R.E., of Knockespock, was killed in a duel fought
in Grenada, 1768, with a Mr Proudfoot, member
of the House of Assembly. He was successively an
officer in the 54th, 51st, 101st, 63rd, and 70th Foot.

Peter Gordon, son of Colonel Harry Gordon,
R.E., of Knockespock, was drowned in Grenada,
Oct. 1787. He had gone there in 1778.

BRITISH GUIANA.

Formerly Berbice (q. v.) and Demerara (q. v.),
which now form two of its three counties. It
covers 90,277 square miles.

Anne Gordon, owner in fee of Cumingsburgh
parish of St. George, got £342 17s 2d compensation
for seven slaves (P.R.O., T.71, 1567, claims 1076
and 1984).

Cleone Gordon, owner in fee, George Town, got
£122 17s compensation for three slaves, Dec' I4
1835 (P.R.O., T.71, 1567, claim 1466).

J. Gordon was joint proprietor of the Devonshire
Castle estate. On Nov. 1, 1872, Edward Jenkins
writing from the Temple, related a revolt on the
estates of Devonshire Castle, Hampton Court, and
Anne Regina, in which five negroes were shot and
six wounded. On Sept. 27, 1872, the manager of
Devonshire Castle had a man arrested for dis-
orderly conduct in the buildings. The other coolies
thereon threatened his wife ("Times," Nov. 1, 1872
p. 6). On Nov. 2, Gordon wrote from London in
reply to Jenkins' letter ("Times," p. 5). Jenkins
19

replied, Nov. 4 (p. 10), and Gordon wrote once
again, Nov. 6 (p. 10).

James Gordon, owner in fee, of the Mahaicony
plantation, Zealand, got £329 14s 5d compensation
for six slaves, Nov. 30, 1835 (P.R.O., T.71, 1566,
claim 611).

James Gordon, Mahaicony Ferry, got £895 5s 9d
compensation for 18 slaves, Dec. 7, 1835 (P.R.O.,
T.71, 1566, claim 807).

John Gordon, owner, parish of St. George, got
£70 19s 9d compensation for two slaves, Dec. 14,
1835 (P.R.O., T.71, 1567, claim 1332).

S. W. Gordon. Charles Bean, as attorney for
J. F. Pinney, and C. Pinney, as irrevocable attor-
nies of S. W. Gordon, claimed for 54 slaves on
Plantation Mocha (P.R.O., T.71, 1556, claim 633).
S. W. Gordon, owner in fee, parish of St. Matthew,
had six slaves. A counter claim for a mortgage
and judgment of £6000 was entered by John
Frederick Pinney and Somerset Earle (P.R.O.,
T.71, 1566, claim 833).

HAYTI.

This island, discovered by Columbus in 1492, was
formerly known as Hispaniola and then as St.
Domingo. It was renounced by Spain in 1865, and
is now a Republic so far as 10,204 square miles of
its total of 28,249 are concerned.

Charles Gordon was vice-consul at its capital,
Port au Prince. He died Aug. 29, 1826, having
"gained the respect and confidence of the British
residents in Hayti." He left a widow and an
infant daughter ("Gentleman's Magazine," vol. 96,
pt. 2, p. 477).

BRITISH HONDURAS.

Although, like Guiana, on the South American
mainland, this colony may conveniently be included
in the West Indian category. Discovered by
Columbus in 1502, it was settled by the English
from Jamaica in 1667. They were often disturbed
by the Spaniards, and sometimes expelled, till
1783. It covers 8600 square miles.

Amelia Gordon, North Belsize, got £433 18s 7d
compensation for eight slaves, Oct. 5, 1835 (P.R.O.,
T.71, 1559, claim 67).

Grace Gordon, South Belsize, got £225 16s lid
compensation for five slaves, Oct. 5, 1835 (P.R.O.,
T.71, 1559, claim 239).

Jane Gordon, North Belsize, got £249 14s 8d
compensation for four slaves, Oct. 5, 1835 (P.R.O.,
T.71, 1559, claim 130). As guardian for Anne Eliza-

20

beth Codd, a minor, she got £145 5s Id for four
slaves (Ibid., claim 127).

John Gordon, South Belsize, got £65 12s 4d
compensation for one slave, Oct. 5, 1835 (Ibid.,
claim 5).

Patricia. Gordon, North Belsize, got £262 7s 6d
compensation for six slaves, Oct. 5, 1835 (Ibid.,
claim 128).

Susannah Gordon, North Belsize, got £36 10s 7d
compensation for one slave, Oct. 5, 1835 (Ibid.,
claim 18).

JAMAICA.

Jamaica is the largest of all the West Indies,
covering 4200 square miles, which is more than
six and a half times the size of Banffshire. It was
discovered by Columbus on May 3, 1494, and we
took it from the Spaniards on May 3, 1655.

It attracted by far the greatest number of
Gordons, and one of these, G. W. Gordon, a
coloured member of the Legislature, created in-
directly something approaching a revolution, for
his execution at the hands of Governor Eyre on
Oct. 23, 1865, on the charge of encouraging the
negroes to revolt resulted in a tremendous dispute
at home during the years 1865-69.

Many of the best families of Gordons sent their
younger sons to Jamaica, as the names of many
estates shows us, such as Braco, Earlstoun, and
Ancheudolly. But several of the Gordons in the
colony were deported there on conviction. The
following list is admittedly not complete, but it
covers a fair area : —

Dr Gordon, Jamaica. His daughter, Matty

Gordon, was married "on Tuesday" to Dr David
Ogilvie, Navy surgeon ("Aberdeen Journal," Dec.
30, 1766). This may be Dr John Gordon (q. v.).

Adam G. Gordon, St. John, as executor of John
Bannie, Retirement plantation, got £138 7s 4d
compensation for six slaves, January 30, 1836 :
£700 5s 6d for 31 slaves ; £235 for nine slaves ;
£240 for 10 slaves, all on the same plantation and
same date (T.71, 1535, claims 74, 75, 76, 77).

Agnes Gordon, St Mary, got £19 10s lOd com-
pensation for one slave, Dec. 14, 1835 (T.71, 1537,
claim 384).

Alexander Gordon, will recorded 1741 (Book 23 :
Island Records).

Alexander Gordon, will recorded 1748 (Book 27 :
Island Records).

Alexander Gordon, will recorded 1743 (Book 24:
Island Records).

21

Alexander Gordon, M.A., Kingston. In 1760 a
private Act was passed for enabling him to carry into
execution his projected improvement of water mills
for grinding sugar cane (Furtado's "List of Jamaica
People").

Alexander and Mary (or Margaret) Gordon had —

1. Joseph Gordon, born October 26, 1769, and

baptised April 18, 1771, in St Anne's parish.

2. Elizabeth Grant Gordon, born October 11,

1766, and baptised April 18, 1771, in St
Anne's parish.
Alexander Gordon had —

1. Margaret Gordon, born August 20, and bap-

tised October 15, 1775, in St Anne's parish.

2. Rachel Gordon, born September 11, 1773, and

baptised October 15, 1775, in St Anne's
parish.

Alexander Gordon, '"deceased," had John Syms
Gordon, born March 18, 1784, and baptised June
13, 1781, in St Anne's parish.

Alexander Gordon, planter, late of Jamaica ; will,
November 17, 1783 (Edinburgh Commissariot).

Alexander Gordon, formerly of Jamaica, died at
Aberdeen, Feb. 17, 1816 (''Aberdeen Journal").

Alexander K. Gordon, Lemon Hall, St John, got
£29 3s Id compensation for one slave, Nov. 23,
1835 (T.71, 1535, claim 231).

Alexie W. Gordon ; see Margaret S. Gordon.

Ann Carr Gordon put in a claim on the estate
of the late William Fairclough, Dumfries estate,
St James's, for 198 slaves, as judgment creditor,
April 22, 1824, for £4445. On Dec. 3, 1836, she
gave notice of a suit in the Court of Chancery in
Jamaica (T.71, 1554, claims 403, 875).

Arthur Gordon, parish of St James's, Cornwall
County, left all his estate to Arthur Mantach, in
trust for certain purposes. Arthur's sister, Helen
Gordon, married John Hossack, innkeeper, Focha-
bers, whose daughter married John Mantach (1743-
1818). Those Gordons may have been connected
with the Gordons of Fifth Part, Dundurcus, for
Mr J. Mantach Grant, 36 Castle Street, Edinburgh,
tells me he has found the above facts among his
family papers. His grandfather, Peter Mantach,
died in 1858, aged 72.

Catherine Gordon, widow, as devisee and execu-
trix of Henrietta Simcocks, got £140 compensation
for seven slaves on Dunaa Pen, St Andrew's parish
(T.71, 1546, claim 508), and £115 for four slaves
owned by Henrietta Simcocks at Port Royal, Jan.

22

3i, 1835 (T.71, 1543, claim 197). She put in a
counter claim to the claim of Henrietta Simcocks,
Spanish Town, St Catherine's, for 19 slaves, Aug.
31, 1835. William Gordon, like Catherine, was also
an executor of Henrietta Simcocks's will (T.71,
1533, claim 65).

Catherine Gordon, as wife of John Gordon,
claimed, under a marriage settlement, £4000, on
Sept. 18, 1835, on the estate of Oliver Herring, Paul
Island, Westmoreland (154 slaves). George Gordon
and James Gordon claimed, as judgment creditors,
in June, 1824, for £3461 (T.71, 1552, claim 223).
John Gordon, on behalf of Catherine, his wife,
claimed by virtue of a bond of Aug. 4, 1787, £2116 ;
but on Nov. 30, 1830, he withdrew all claims except
for 124 slaves, owned by Oliver Herring (95), Mrs
Margaret Herring (15), and Mrs C. Gordon (54).
John Gordon and Catherine Gordon stated, Dec. 9,
1835, that the counter claims were made by George
Gordon and James Gordon on their behalf, so
that they withdrew them (T.71, 1552, claims 223,
782, 783).

Charles Gordon, 1737, will proved that year is
preserved in Book 21, in the office of the Island
Secretary.

Charles Gordon, merchant, Jamaica. "By let-
ters" from the island his death is announced in
the "Aberdeen Journal," Oct. 28, 1755. He may
be the Charles Gordon whose will was recorded in
the Island records, Aug. 7, 1755, who had a brother
John in Edinburgh, another brother Thomas in
Aberdeen, and the following sisters in Aberdeen —
Jane, Susanna, Elizabeth, and Mary.'

Charles Gordon, junr., was one of the magis-
trates of Trelawny parish, Cornwall County, 1783
(Douglas and Aikman's 'Almanack and Register
for Jamaica," 1783, p. 75).

Charles Gordon, owner in right of his wife, in St
Catherine, Spanish Town, got £29 3s Id compensa-
tion for one slave, 1835 (T.71, 1533, claim 506).

Charles Gordon, Tamarind Grove, St Catherine,
got £530 5s 3d compensation for 31 slaves (T.71,
1533, claim 508). As legatee he put in a claim for
£360 for 28 slaves, but Henry Lord Garrigues,
William Lambert, Bartholomew Ibbott Williams,
James Lee Brodbelt, Thomas Lee Brodbelt, Eliza
Lee Brodbelt, Margaret Clare, Eliza Clare, and
John Gale Vidal, put in counter claims (T.71, 1533,
claim 508). Charles Gordon, with the Claires and
Vidals, put in a counter claim, as judgment credi-
23

tor, on the claim of William Page Clark, Wellington
Park, St Catherine's (T.71, 1533, claim 161).

Charles Gordon (perhaps the same as the last
mentioned), as judgment creditor, in Feb., 1816,
for £1000, put in a counter claim, Aug. 14, 1835,
for the 19 slaves of John Thomas Bell, Fairfield,
St Dorothy (T.71, 1535, claims 87 and 320).

Charles Gordon, Coppen, St Catherine, got £231
Is 9d for 12 slaves, June 13, 1836. Counter claims
by Henry Lord Garrigues, Margaret Clare, Eliza
Clare, and John Gale Vidal, as judgment creditors,
were withdrawn (T.71, 1533, claim 505). He may
be the same as Charles of Tamarind Grove.

Charles Gordon, residing in England, got £4476
4s lid compensation for 221 slaves on the Braco
estate, Trelawny (T.71, 1555, claim 23); £1171 for
98 slaves on the Williamsfield Pen, Trelawney, Oct.
19, 1835 (Ibid, claim 24); and £1931 7s 4d for 84
slaves in Richmond Pen, St Anne's, Feb. 1, 1836
(T.71 ,1538, claim 583). He was the son or grandson
of William Gordon (son of Elizabeth Gordon of
Braco, in the parish of Grange, wife of Mr William
Gordon, Mill of Avochie), who emigrated to
Jamaica. Charles had at least one son, Charles,
who lived at Great Berkhampstead, Herts., who
died in 1829, and whose son, Charles (1784-1839),
bought Newtimber Place, Sussex, still held by the
family.

Charlotte Gordon, Mountain Spring, St Andrew's
parish, got £286 compensation for 12 slaves, Jany.
12, 1836 (T.71, 1546, claim 443).

Cosmo Gordon, was the son of James Gordon of
Beldorney (died 1740), and went to Jamaica. Cosmo
married a Jamaican, Miss Campbell, and had a
large family, including Robert Gordon, who mar-
ried Letitia Rudyerd ; and had Robert Henry John
Huntly Gordon (1797-1878), an officer in the army,
who married a Glenlivet woman, Helen Macgregor
(said to have been a lady's maid). His son, by
another lady, is Mr Charles Edward Gordon, living
at Wrangell, Alaska, who has recently been claim-
ing to be "the rightful heir to the Huntly Gordon
estates of Aberdeen, and also the Field House,
Whitby estate, Yorkshire." Charles Edward is
married to an Eskimo lady.

David Gordon, lieutenant, 79th Foot, and his
wife, Rebecca, had a son, James, born Jany. 17,
and baptised March 21, 1781, in St Mary's parish,
Kingston. David died in Jamaica, Dec. 6, 1781,
aged 37. His widow was receiving a pension till
1811,

24

Eliza Gordon, executrix of Amelia Bell, Prospect
Farm, got £266 lis lid compensation for 31 slaves,
Sept. 26, 1836 (T.71, 1537, claim 300).

Elizabeth Gordon, Prospect, St Mary's, probably
the same as Eliza, got £64 4s 3d for four slaves :
Dec. 14, 1835. It was amended, June 25, 1836, n
favour of William Villiers Amiel and Elizabeth
Amiel (T.71, 1537, claim 308). On March 20, 1837,
Amiel and his wife, Elizabeth, got £306 compensa-
tion (Ibid., claim 309).

Eliza Gordon, "a native of Jamaica," died March
4, 1810, aged 17, and a stone was erected to her
memory in Greyfriars, Edinburgh, by "her friend
and afflicted parents" (James Brown's "Greyfriars
Epitaphs," p. 268).

Eliza Bendon Gordon, Kingston, owner in fee,
got £134 3s 4d compensation for seven slaves, Feb.
29, 1836 (T.71, 1542, claim 796).

Elizabeth Gordon, owner in fee, Gordon Castle,
St Mary, got £28 3s 8d compensation for 13 slaves,
Sept. 28, 1835 (T.71, 1537, claim 50).

Ellen Gordon died June 8, 1839, aged 72 (stone
in the Ebenezer Burial Ground, Kingston, quoted
in "Notes and Queries," Sept. 30, 1905).

Florence Gordon, owner in fee, Charlestown, St
George, got £26 12s 2d compensation for one slave,
Nov. 9, 1835 (T.71, 1550, claim 150).

Frances Gordon (Mrs), died Oct. 30, 1836, in
Jamaica, aged 84. She was the mother of William
Whitehorne of Laurence Park, Jamaica ("Gentle-
man's Magazine," vol. 7, N.S., p. 447).

Francis and John Gordon, joint owners in fee
of Golden River, St Thomas-in-Vale, had 100 slaves,
for whom they got £1967 compensation, July 28,
1836. A counter claim was raised, Aug. 14, 1835,
by Sir John Gordon, Bart., as mortgage for £4700,
but was withdrawn, Feb. 1, 1836, by Sir John's
attorney, H. Lowndes (T.71, 1536, claim 226). This
Sir John was apparently the fifth baronet of Earls-
toun, Kirkcudbright (q. v.).

George Gordon and George Gordon, jun., were
among "the list of His Majesty's subjects and
slaves," transported in H.M.S. Hercules from Suri-
nam to Jamaica , September, 1675; George Gordon,
sen., was in debt, 1676 (Calendar or State Docu-
ments — America and the West Indies, P.R.O.).

George and Elizabeth Gordon had Elizabeth,
baptised April 16, 1680, in St Catherine's parish.

George and Sarah Gordon had a son Thomas,
baptised Aug. 28, 1683, in St Catherine's parish,

25

George Gourdon, will registered 1683 (Book 4:
Island Secretary's office).

George Gordon, will registered 1741 (Book 23 :
Ibid.).

George Gordon from Aberdeen had a daughter,
Mary, 1757.

George and Rebecca Gordon, at Wheelerfield,
had Thomas Gordon, born April 19, and baptised
October 2, 1757, St George's parish.

George Gordon, surgeon, Hanover parish. He
married Elizabeth Denham. His will was proved
December 13, 1781 (Edinburgh Commissariot). His
wife was served heir to her brother, David Denham,
writer, Edinburgh. They had a daughter —

Elizabeth Gordon, who was served heir to
her and Captain Gordon of Auchannachy, Aug.
15, 1782, and to her uncle, John, of Auchan-
nachy, August 15, 1782.

George Gordon took a lease of some property in
Jamaica, 1781. He was the second son of Robert
Gordon of Pronsey and the brother of Dr John
Gordon (q. v.), to whom, on his death in Jamaica,
he left his fortune.

George Gordon was the representative in 1835
of John Tarrett, deceased, on the estate of Amity
Hall Settlement, St James, and «f Catherine Hall
(T.71, 1554, claims 535, 536). He was also executor
to the late mortgagees on the estate of John Cleg-
horn, Grange Pen, St James's (T.71, 1554, claim
665).

George Gordon, owner in fee, Port Maria, St
Mary, got £110 19s compensation for six slaves,
Feb. 1, 1836 (T.71, 1537, claim 516).

George Gordon, owner in fee, Moor Park, St
James's, got £3526 3s 9d compensation for 178
slaves, Nov. 16, 1836 (T.71, 1554, claim 181).

George Gordon, as receiver in the cause of Gray
v. Hinde and others, put in a claim for 93 slaves
at the Industry Estate (T.71, 1554, claim 166). As
an executor of Charles Gordon Gray, jun., Industry
Estate, St James's, he got £326 compensation for
15 slaves, April 4, 1836. Janet Gray put in a
counter claim as annuitant of £300 by agreement
in satisfaction of her dower, for arrears since 1831,
claiming £1051, but she withdrew this, Feb. 22,
1836 (T.71, 1554, claim 165).

George Gordon, Marley Mount, St Dorothy, got
£78 3s 5d compensation for four slaves, Oct. 26,
1835 (T.71, 1534, claim 117).

George William Gordon, "the Jamaica Martyr,"
was a man of colour. His origin is doubtful. His

26

father is said to have been William Gordon from
Morayshire. Others give him a Joseph Gordon,
probably the Joseph who belonged to the Carroll
family in Sutherland. He was born as a slave to
the Cherry Garden Estate, in St Andrew's parish,
of which his father, Joseph, was overseer. His
mother, with her sisters, were slaves on this estate.
When the father became attorney for the estate, he
freed his children and their mother and had given
them all a good education. George started in
business as a merchant, and became quite a rich
man. In Oct., 1846, he married, and soon after
this his father's affairs became involved and the
father came home. The negro riot broke out at
Morant Bay, in the parish of Jamaica, on Oct. 11,
1865. The volunteers were called to suppress it,
the result being that seven were killed and 25
wounded. Of the civilians present, 11 were killed
and six wounded. In all, about 25 persons were
killed and about 35 wounded. Five houses were
burned and 20 stores looted. Then the Governor,
Edward John Eyre (1815-1901), who curiously enough
had married a Gordon, namely, Ada Austen, daughter
of Alexander Hamilton Miller Gordon of Florida
Manor and Delamont, County Pown, decided on
the Botha-strong-man act, proclaimed martial law
(Oct. 13), and hanged Gordon summarily. No
fewer than 439 of the rioters were put to death,
600 were flogged, and over 1000 houses were burned.
All Britain was roused. Eyre was recalled and
tried. Kingsley, Carlyle, Ruskin, and Tennyson
supported him. J. S. Mill, Huxley, Tom Hughes,
Herbert Spencer, and Goldwin Smith denounced
Eyre. The latter was brought to trial, but the
grand juries threw out the bills. Eyre's legal
expenses were paid from the public funds in 1872,
and he received a pension as a retired Colonial
governor in 1874. When he died in 1901 most
people had forgotten all about him. A big litera-
ture arose out of the whole affair, of which the
following are samples : —

"A Sketch of the late Mr G. W. Gordon,
Jamaica." By the Rev. David King, LL.D., London
(Edinburgh: William Oliphant & Co.), 1866: 8vo.,
pp. 16.

"The Case of George William Gordon, with pre-
liminary observations on the Jamaica plot of Oct.
11, 1865."' By B. T. Williams, M.A., baxrister-at-
law (London: Butterworth), 1866: 8vo., 59 pp.

"Personal Recollections of the Hon. George W.
Gordon, late of Jamaica," (London), 1867.

27

"The History of the Jamaica Case; being an
account founded upon official documents of the
Rebellion of the Negroes in Jamaica : the causes
which led to it, and the measures taken for its
suppression ; the agitation excited on the subject,
its causes and its character ; and the debates in
Parliament, and the Criminal Prosecutions arising
out of it." By W. F. Finlason [1818-95], barrister-
at-law (London : Chapman & Hall) ; 2nd edition,
1869; 8vo., pp. xcvi., 691.

I believe Gordon's widow came to England and
died at Watford. A photograph of Gordon, taken
by Duberley Brothers, Kingston, Jamaica, shows
him as a strong-faced intelligent man with spec-
tacles, but does not betray negroed features.

Harry Gordon married Anne Taafe, the daughter
of the Rev. Arthur Taafe, of Jamaica, and the
grand-daughter of Christopher Taafe of Mansfield-
town, Co. Louth, who was attained in 1691, and
went to Jamaica. His son was Lieut. -Colonel
Harry Gordon, who married Rachael Lawrence of
Jamaica, and had two sons (died without issue)
and four daughters ("Notes and Queries"). A
James Gordon of 1766 had a brother Harry in
H.M. service.

James Gordon, "late of Jamaica," died at Dum-
fries, January 23, 1794 ("Scots Magazine").

James Gordon. His daughter, Miss Gordon, was
married in 1802, at Earlston, Jamaica, to George
Innes, the father then being dead ("Scots Maga-
zine").

James Gordon and Robert William Gordon, St
James's, as executors for John Edward Payne,
Middlesex Pen, Hanover, got £2255 compensation
for 111 slaves, Jany. 25, 1836 (T.71, 1553, claim
419) ; and £123 for Payne's eight slaves at Wood-
lands, St James's, Nov. 16, 1835 (T.71, 1554, claim
150).

James Gordon, Montego Bay, got £98 10s 3d
as compensation for four slaves, April 11, 1836,
William Banks, New York, withdrawing a counter
claim as judgment creditor for £6291 with interest
(T.71, 1554, claim 60). James and Robert Gordon,
Montego Bay, got £396 19s 6d compensation for 13
slaves, April 11, 1836, Banks again withdrawing a
counter claim as judgment creditor for the £6291
(T.71, 1554, claim 86).

James Gordon, Jamaica, married Christian,
daughter of James Scarlett of that island, and
died in 1794. He was the ninth and youngest son

28

of Sir Thomas Gordon of Earlstoun, Kirkcudbright,
and brother of Sir John, 5th baronet (q. v.).

James Alexander Gordon died in Jamaica, 1757.

Jane Gordon, owner in fee, Prospect, St Mary,
got £89 16s 8d compensation for six slaves, Jany.
11, 1836 (T.71. 1537, claim 459).

Jane Gordon, owner in fee, Font Hill, St An-
drew, got £39 compensation for two slaves, Dec.
21, 1835 (T.71, 1546, claim 319).

John Gordon, will registered 1737 (Book 21 :
Island Secretary's Office).

John and Elizabeth Gordon had the following
children : —

1. John Gordon, born and baptised September

21, 1761.

2. Mary Gordon, born July 26, 1756, and bap-

tised July 31, 1762, both baptisms taking
place in St Mary's parish, Kingston.

John and Elizabeth Gordon had Sarah, born Oct.
31, 1769, and baptised March 29, 1770, in St Anne's
parish.

John and Elizabeth Gordon had Susan, bora
August 2, 1772, and baptised March 1, 1774, in
St Anne's parish.

Dr John Gordon (1728-1774) helped to quell a
rebellion of negroes in the parish of St Mary, April
8, 1760, as recorded on his tombstone in St Peter's,
Dorchester, where he died, Oct. 4, 1774. He was
the son of Robert Gordon, of Pronsy, and grand-
son of Sir Robert Gordon, 2nd bart. of Embo, and
he had a son, Robert Home Gordon (q. v.).

John Gordon, of Portland parish, county of
Surrey, was served heir to his father, George,
merchant in Aberdeen, June 18, 1772.

John Gordon, one of the representatives in
Assembly from St Anne's parish, died 1776. ,

John and Anne Gordon had Francis Leslie Gor-
don, born July 26, and baptised May 29, 1782, in
St Mary parish, Kingston.

John Gordon had the following children :—

1. John Gordon, born January 2, 1789, and bap-

tised August 11, 1797, in St Anne's parish.

2. Patrick Dunbar Gordon, born April 16, 1791,

and baptised August 11, 1797, in St Anne's
parish.

3. Jean Gordon, born April, 1794.

John and Jean Gordon had Mary M'Donald
Gordon, born Jany. 2, 1797, and baptised August
15, 1798, in St Anne's parish.

29

John Gordon, Bertram's Bower, St Anne's. At
his house his sister, Mrs Sharpe, widow of Alex-
ander Sharpe (sometime of Jamaica), died Sept. 20,
1820 ("Scots Magazine").

John Gordon, M.D., died on December 1, 1825,
at Kingston, "where he had resided more than 40
years.'' He was "a native of Aberdeenshire," and
was aged 70 ("Scots Magazine'').

Sir John Gordon, of Earlstoun, Montego Bay,
5th baronet of Earlstoun, Kirkcudbright (1780-1843).
He was living in Jamaica in 1811, but having in
1816 succeeded to the estate of Carleton, Scotland,
possessed by his kinsman, John Gordon, he returned
to Scotland. As owner in fee of Carleton, St
James's, Jamaica, he got £3316 compensation for
164 slaves, Jany. 25, 1835, and on Feb. 22, 1836, he
got £473 for 26 slaves, claimed by him as guardian
to the heirs of Amey Brown, Carleton. He made
the claim as executor for his sister (T.71, 1544,
claims 429, 430). See also Francis and John Gordon,
supra.

John Gordon, absentee, owner in fee of the
Campbelton estate, Hanover, got £3181 compensa-
tion for 162 slaves, Jany. 25, 1836. A counter claim
by George Gibbs and Robert Bright as mortgagees,
Aug. 12, 1817, for £3553, with interest, was with-
drawn, Feb. 18, 1836 (T.71, 1553, claim 189).

John Gordon, absentee, owner in fee, Glasgow
estate, St James's, had 174 slaves. He died, and
a sum of £3181 was awarded to his executors, Maria
Gordon and George Gordon, Nov. 16, 1855 (T.71,
claim 170).

John Gordon claimed through George Gordon, as
mortgagee, March 26, 1793, for £24,064 10s and
£5967, on judgment of June, 1795. He got £457
18s 8d compensation for 28 slaves owned by Peter
Anderson, Portland parish (T.71, 1549, claim 16).

John Gordon, Scotland, was a mortgagee, May
31, 1817, on the estate of the heirs of Raynes B.
Warb, Blue Hole estate, St James's, 142 slaves
(T.71, 1554, claim 186).

John Gordon was mortgagee on the estate of
Gilbert Sinclair. Cross estate, St Catherine, and
his executor put in a claim for £6785 on Sinclair's
197 slaves, Aug. 14, 1835. But Sinclair himself was
awarded £356 19s Id on April 4, 1836, Gordon's
executor, William Rae, withdrawing the counter
claim (T.71, 1533, claim 674).

John Gordon claimed as judgment creditor, Jiine
1, 1832, for £1333 on the estate of Francis Samuel
Corral, St Andrew, (14 slaves). But Corral himself
30

got £164 on Aug. 3, 1840 (T.71, 1546, claims 561,
635).

John Gordon, together with James Fyffe, Neil
Malcolm, Charles Sterling, William Sterling, and
Charles Sterling, junr., "of Scotland,'' by their
attorney, George Gordon, put in (1835) a counter
claim on 97 slaves belonging to A. Hamilton Brown,
St Anne's, as assignees of certain bonds given for
the purchase money of these slaves, and also as
being entitled to the legal estate by a certain
deed, whereby all parties interested had agreed to
transfer the compensation to them (T.71, 1538,
claim 650). The same six persons held mortgages
to the extent of £6655 on 187 slaves, belonging to
John Haughton and James Burnet, Ground Pen,
Hanover (T.71, 1553, claim 19, 511). John Gordon,
Charles Sterling, and James Fyffe held another
mortgage of £9699, dated 1820.

Joseph Gordon, of Navidale, Sutherland, made
a fortune in Jamaica. He was a younger son of
Hugh Gordon of Carroll (in the parish of Clyne,
Sutherland), who represented the younger branch
of the Invergordon Gordons. Joseph died in 1800,
and left his property, including mortgages affecting
many lands, negroes, and other property in the
island of Jamaica to his brother John, of Carroll,
and the latter's son, Joseph, last of Ca<rroll (died
1855), who was a Writer to the Signet. This latter
Joseph may be the same as one, if not all, of the
following Josephs in Jamaica : —

Joseph Gordon, owner in fee, Delacree Pen, St
Andrews, got £1383 compensation for 74 slaves,
Oct. 5, 1835 (T.71 ,1546, claim 44); £478 for 24
slaves on Shortwood and Barbican, Sept. 19, 1836
(Ibid., claim 45) ; £3564, as executor, under the
will of Benjamin Mariott Perk, Shortwood, for
172 slaves (Ibid., claim 51). He claimed, as co-
executor of Francis Clark, Spring, for 97 slaves
(Ibid., claim 55), and got £458 as owner of 23
slaves at Spring (Ibid., claim 56).

Joseph Gordon, owner, Old England estate, St
David's, got £2240 14s 4d compensation for 107
slaves, Oct. 31, 1836, though counter claims, as
judgment creditors, were put in by John Hall, for
£3060, Feb. 1, 1816; by John Atkins and John
Pelly, for £3663, Oct., 1828; and by Samuel Foyster
Yockney and William Yockney, for £3347, Feb. 1,
1827 (T.71, 1547, clcaim 3). The sum of £1099 with
interest and accumulations was adjudged to the
counter claimants, Nov. 30, 1840 (Ibid., claim 186).
In Gordon's claim as owner of Mount Faraway and

31

Essex, Port Royal, the sum of £2358 was adjudged
to Gordon, Oct. 31, 1836, though the same counter
claims were made (T.71, 154-5, claims 32 and 304).

Joseph Gordon as mortgagee, Feb. 19, 1828, for
£1598, entered, and then w'thdrew, a claim on the
estate of Sarah Hagart, Richmond Castle, St
George's (T.71 ,1550, claim 314).

Joseph Gordon extended a claim on the estate
of Mary Player Smith, Prospect Hill, St Andrew,
as assignee under judgment for £618 (T.71, 1546,
claim 146).

Joseph Gordon was creditor on judgment of Oct.,
1832, for £43 on the estate of Robert P. Clarke,
executor of William Clarke, Mount Sion, St Mary,
and put in a claim for the same, Aug., 1835 (T.71,
1537, claim 87).

Joseph Gordon, as creditor on bond and judgment
for £4453, put in a counter claim on the estate of
Lawrence Fyffe, Albany estate, St Mary, Aug.,
1835 (T.71, 1537, claim 145).

Joseph Gordon, as creditor on judgment of Feb.,
1825, for £291, put n a counter claim, Aug., 1835,
on Henry Cox, senr., and John Harris, Mason
Hall, St Mary, but £391 was paid to Elizabeth
Macdonald (T.71, 1537, claim 293).

Joseph Gordon, by judgment for £151, June,
1832, claimed on the estate of Lydia Baker, trustee
in fee, Bardowie, St Andrews, in the matter of 101
slaves (T.71, 1546, claim 179).

Joseph Gordon was a trustee for John Smith,
Salisbury Plain, St Andrews, 1836, in the matter
of 157 slaves (T.71, 1546, claim 284).

Joseph Gordon, as executor of William Davidson,
entered a claim ; n 1835 on the estate of George
Davidson, Redington Pen, and Broadgate, St
George, losing it on a judgment of Oct., 1833 (T.71,
1550, claims 274, 276, 324).

Joseph Gordon and John White Carter, as re-
ceivers at Washington and Hibernia, St David's,
claimed for 57 and 182 slaves, 1836 (T.71, 1547,
claims 134, 135, and 191).

Larchin Gordon was assistant judge of Common
Pleas and of the Quorum and one of the magis-
trates of Clarendor parish, Middlesex county, 1783
(Douglas and Aikman's Almanack and Register of
Island of Jamaica for 1783, p. 69). Larchin Gordon,
owner in fee, Crescent, St Mary, got £48 13s lid
compensation for one slave, Dec. 14, 1835 (T.71,
1537, claim 375). Larchin Gordon, senior, as
guardian for Sarah Gordon, Happy Retreat, St
Elizabeth, got £26 12s 2d for one slave, March 7,

32

1836 (T.71, 1551, claim 942), and as guardian for
Catalina A. Gordon, Happy Retreat, he got £12
16s 2d compensation for another slave (Ibid., claim

944). Larchin Gordon married Elizabeth , and

had the following children in Clarendon parish : —

1. William Gordon, born April 24, 1765.

2. Richard Larchin Gordon, baptised Sept. 20,

1766. He is apparently the Larchin Gor-
don, junior, Happy Retreat, St Elizabeth,
who got £26 12s 2d compensation for one
slave, March 7, 1836 (T.71, 1551, claim 942),
and £313 for 14 slaves, as executrix for
John Gordon, Port Royal, Thomas Douglas,
legatee, withdrawing a counter claim for
£409 (Ibid., claim 943). He is almost
certainly the Richard Gordon who was
assistant judge of the Common Pleas and
of the Quorum and a magistrate of Claren-
don, county Middlesex, 1793 (Douglas and
Aikman's Almanack and Register for
Jamaica, 1793, p. 69).

3. Arthur M'Kenzie Gordon, baptised November

21, 1765.

4. George Alexander Gordon, baptised April 19,

1782.

5. Elizabeth Barbary Gordon, baptised May 13,

1785. Larchin Gordon had a daughter
unnamed, who was married at Spanish
Town to William Ramsay, registrar of the
High Court of Jamaica ("Scots Magazine,"
September, 1789).

6. Susanna Gordon, baptised December 11, 1784.

7. Mary Alexandrina Barbary (or Barberry)

Gordon withdrew in 1837 a counter claim
for £310 on the 40 slaves of James William-
son, Whitfield Pen, St Andrews (T.71, 1546,
claim 484). As an annuitant, she put in a
counter claim to the claim of Edward
Thomson, sequestrator in the case of
Nioxby v. Gordon, on Lemon Hill, St
Dorothy. The judgment creditors were
William and Donald Finlayson, John
Nethersole, Donald Dingwall, John Rickett,
and Samuel Richard Herdsman (T.71, 1535,
claims 164, 165, 330). She herself owned
48 slaves and was a counter claimant to
the claim of two slaves belonging to
William Halshead, St John's (Ibid. 169). An
Alexandrina Barberry was the wife of
William Gordon in 1794.

33

Margaret Gordon, Tomarind Grove, St Catherine
got £71 5s 3d for six slaves, Feb. 1, 1836 (T.71,
1533, claim 504).

Margaret S. Gordon, St Anne's, owner in fee,
and Alexie W. Gordon, got £340 compensation for
14 slaves, Feb. 15, 1836 (T.71, 1538, claim 597).

Mary Gordon, was a coloured woman in Hanover
parish, Sept. 7, 1788.

Mary Ann Gordon, Camperdown Pen, St Andrews,
got £87 compensation for four slaves, Oct. 5, 1836
(T.71, 1546, claim 64).

Mary B. Gordon, Mint estate, Westmoreland, got
£66 compensation for three slaves, Dec. 7, 1836
(T.71, 1552, claim 250).

. Mary Margaret Gordon, owner in fee, Friendship,
St Mary, got £77 compensation for five slaves,
Jauy. li, 1836 (T.71, 1537, claim 404).

Oliver Herring Gordon, owner in fee, Paisley
estate, St James's, got £34 compensation for one
slave, Nov. 16, 1835 (T.71, 1554, claim 182). See
also Catherine Gordon, supra.

Richard Gordon and his wife, Mary, had a son,
Michael, born March 16, baptised Sept. 6, 1740 (in
Kingston parish).

Robert Gordon married Hannah , and had

a son, William, born Dec. 3, 1739, and baptised
Jany. 1, 1740, at Kingston.

Robert Gordon married Ann Graham, and had
a son, George, baptised July 17, 1769, in St
Catherine's parish.

Robert Gordon was a coloured man, living in
Hanover parish, May 7, 1785.

Robert Gordon married Elizabeth Ann — , and
had

1. Robert Gordon, baptised at Port Royal, Dec.

28, 1788.

2. Edward Gordon, baptised at Port Royal, Dec.

28, 1788.

3. George Gordon, baptised at Port Royal, Dec.

28, 1788.

Robert Gordon married Sarah , and had a

daughter, Mary Ann, baptised Aug. 31, 1793, in
Kingston parish.

Robert Gordon, living in 1768 in Flanders, be-
queathed his real property within the diocese of
Canterbury and also in Jamaica to his brothers,
John and William, and to his daughters, Susanna
and Rebecca (Archer's "Jamaica Monuments"). I
think he was one of the Hallhead Gordons, who
were certainly represented in Jamaica by Cosmo

(q. v.), who called his son Robert , and a

34

brother of Sir William Gordon, the diplomat (1726-
1798).

Robert Gordon married, Oct. 8, 1799, Isabella,
daughter of James Dunn, of Alderston ("Scots
Magazine").

Robert Gordon, Great Britain, owner in fee of
Windsor Lodge estate, St James's, put in a claim
for 353 slaves, but the £6252 12s given for them
was paid to Hibbert and Co., counter claimants
for the mortgagees and in virtue of a judgment of
Oct., 1827, for £15,589 (T.71, 1554, claim 169). He
also claimed for 167 slaves on the Paisley estate,
but again the Hibberts got £3135 in virtue of a
mortgage, July 24, 1800, of £15,589 (Ibid., claim
184). He is probably Robert Home Gordon, son
of Dr John Gordon (q. v.), who was co-respondent
in a divorce suit, 1794, with Mrs Biscoe, whose
husband was awarded £4000 damages. Gordon,
who married the lady, was said in 1794 to be
worth £7000 or £8000 a year. He lived in Albe-
marle Street, London, and bought the ancestral
estate of Embo. He died in 1826, and his widow,
who died in 1839, sold Embo to the ducal Suther-
lands.

Robert Gordon and William Langmead entered
a counter claim as judgment creditors for £10,000,
Jany. 26, 1835, on the estate of Stephen Oakby
Attlay, Prospect estate, Portland, Jamaica (T.71,
1549, claim 36).

Robert Home Gordon, see Robert Gordon, supra.

Robert William Gordon, Montego Bay, St
James's, got £29 compensation for one slave, April
11, 1836, William Banks, New York, withdrawing
a counter claim as judgment creditor for £6291
(T.71, 1554, claim 61).

Rupert Daniel Gordon, son of Robert Gordon,
Achness, died at Clarendon, June, 1802 ("Scots
Magazine"). He is probably the same as Rupert
Daniel Gordon, who became a cornet in Colonel
M'Dowall's Fencible Cavalry, April 18, 1786.

Samuel Gordon: will registered 1722 (Book 16,
No. 48, Island Secretary's Office).

Samuel and Mary Gordon had Thomas, baptised
August 4, 1717, in St Catherine's parish.

Samuel and Cecilia Gordon had —

1. Jane, baptised July 25, 1739, in St Catherine's
, parish.

2. Francis, baptised Sept. 15, 1753, in St Cathe-

rine's parish.
Samuel Gordon, son of Samuel Gordon of
Jamaica, matriculated at Oriel College, Oxford,

35

Dec. 17, 1762, aged 22 (Foster's "Oxford Alumni").
Samuel Gordon, Kingston, was Attorney-General
of Jamaica. He had —

1. Thomas Gordon.

2. John Gordon.

3. Robert Gordon.

4. Janet Gordon. She married in 1760 John

Hibbert of Manchester (1732-69). Their son
Robert Hibbert, founded the Hibbert
Trust in 1847. There is a full
pedigree of the Hibberts in Cusan's
"Herts," vi., 180. The Hibberts
had lent money to Robert Gordon

(q- v.).

Susanna Ann Gordon, St Andrews Hill, St
James's, got £63 compensation for 30 slaves, Dec.
7, 1835 (T.71, 1554, claim 228).

Susanna Ann Gordon got £7503 compensation for
354 slaves on the Home Castle estate, St Anne's,
and £2461 for 119 slaves on Dernock Pen., Jany.
11, 1835. She claimed through her attorney, Robert
Fairweather, who himself owned 18 slaves (T.71,
1538, claims 1498, 1499).

Susanna Ann Gordon, St James's, and Anne
Edgar Sutherland, were owners in fee of one slave
at Montego Bay, and got £29 compensation, Feb.
29, 1836 (T.71, i554, claim 781).

Thomas Gordon, will registered 1746 (Book 27 ;
Island Secretary's Office).

Thomas Gordon married Ann . In his will,

registered 1748, he mentions Ann and his children,
Susanna, Ann, John, and William, and appoints
Dr William Gordon, M.D., Bristol, as executor
(Archer's "Jamaica Monuments").

Thomas Gordon had a daughter, Elizabeth, bap-
tised in St Andrew's parish, Feb. 8, 1787.

Thomas Gordon was one of the magistrates of
St Thomas-in-the-East and St David, Surrey county
(Douglas and Aikman's "Almanack and Register
for Jamaica," 1783, p. 73).

Hon. Thomas Gordon, Chief Justice of Port
Royal, died at Kingston, August 3, 1771.

Thomas Gordon had Elizabeth Gordon, baptised
February 2, 1787, in St Andrew parish.

Thomas Gordon, Port Maria Bay, died June 15,
1807, at sea on his wa home. He was the son of
Rev. G. W. Algernon Gordon, minister of Keith.

Thomas Gordon (born 1810) was the son of the
owner of the Orange Estate (or Orangefield),
Jamaica, who, in turn, inherited it from his father.
36

Thomas came to Scotland when his father married
a second time. He married Janet, daughter of
his employer, Mr Drennan, a stonemason. His
grandson, Mr J. A. Gordon, Kenmuir, 6a Langdale
Road, Thornton Heath, tells me that Thomas, who
lived at Riccarton, Ayrshire, "used at times to
declare that he was Viscount Kenmuir," and when
Adam, the 8th Viscount (1792-1847) died, "he made
some move to push his claim forward. Thomas
and his wife, Janet Drennan, had four sons —

1. Robert Gordon (died 1905) : married Margaret

M'Clymont, now (1914) aged 83, and had
Thomas Gordon: still alive.
Robert Gordon : still alive.
John Alexander Gordon: now living at
Kenmuir, Thornton Heath ; mar-
ried, and his issue, Helen Gordon,
still alive.

2. James Gordon: died in 1906 or 1907.

3. John Gordon : died about 1901.

4. Janet Gordon: died about 1909.

Thomas Gordon, trustee for John Fisher, Union
(214 slaves), and Juana Pier (145 slaves) claimed
compensation, but admitted the counter claim of
the Rev. John Campbell Fisher (T.71, 1551, claims
362, 730, and 1074).

Thomas Cosmo Gordon. In his attestation papers
as an officer in the Indian army preserved at the
India Office, he states on oath that he was born
in the parish of Anne's. "No register of births
being kept in this parish, a certificate of his age
cannot be obtained, but he is informed by his
parents, which he verily believes to be true, that
he is between the age of 15 and 25 years at the
present time" — sworn at the Mansion House, April
28, 1791.

Walter Gordon, sometime overseer of the plan-
tation of Airy Castle, Jamaica; will April 27, 1785
("Edinburgh Commissariot").

William Gordon, will registered 1705 (Book 11,
No. 147: Island Secretary's Office).

William Gordon married Mary , and had a

son, William, baptised in St Catherine's parish,
April 18, 1669.

William and Margaret Gordon had —

1. William, baptised March 28, 1701, in St Cathe-

rine's parish.

2. Catherine, baptised October 17, 1704, in St

Catherine's parish.

37

William and Mary Gordon had —

1. Alexander, baptised April 3, 1722, in St Cathe-

rine's parish.

2. William, baptised September 6, 1724, in St

Catherine's parish.
William and Elizabeth Gordon had —

1. Charles Gordon, born April 24, and baptised

May 29, 1723.

2. William Gordon, born April 10, and baptised

April 23, 1724.

3. John Gordon, born October 27, and baptised

November 10, 1727.

4. Robert Gordon, born December 29, 1727 (P),

and baptised February 3, 1728. All these
baptisms took place in St Mary's parish,
Kingston.
William and Susanna Gordon had —

1. Thomas, born January 30, and baptised Feby.

18, 1730.

2. Susanna Gordon, born July 3, and baptised

August 18, 1729, both baptisms taking place
in St Mary parish, Kingston.

William and Mary Gordon, of St John's, had
Margaret, baptised June 15, 1733, in St Dorothy
parish.

William and Mary Gordon had Elizabeth, bap-
tised October 2, 1740, in Clarendon parish.

William Gordon died at Montego Bay, 1766.

William and Alexandrina Barbary Gordon (per-
haps the daughter of Larchin Gordon, q. v.) had
Richard, baptised May 5, 1794, in Clarendon parish.

William Gordon, of St Elizabeth, leaves bequests
to Susanna, daughter of Harry Gordon, of St
James's (Archer's "Monumental Inscriptions of
Jamaica").

William Gordon, St Catherine, got £132 15s 8d
compensation for six slaves, Jany. 11, 1836 (T.71,
1533, claim 170).

William Gordon, Tryall and Ryley's estates,
Hanover, got £483 compensation for 25 slaves, Oct.
19, 1835 (T.71, 1553, claim 59).

William Gordon, will registered 1738 (Book 22;
Island Secretary's Office).

William Gordon, Montego Bay, got £225 com-
pensation for nine slaves, Dec. 23, 1835 (T.71, 1554,
claim 304).

William Gordon, St. James's, as trustee for Mary
Ann Bryan, Angelica Stuart, and others, Montego

38

Bay, got £80 compensation for six slaves, April 18,
1836 (T.71, 1554, claim 263).

William Gordon, owner in fee, Darliston, West-
moreland, got £1938 compensation for 94 slaves,
Feb. 8, 1836 (T.71, 1552, claim 305).

Dr William Gordon settled at Montego Bay and
became a judge in the Supreme Court of Jamaica
and a Member of Council. He was the son of
Col. John Gordon of Coynachie, born 1786, and
died at Elgin, Jany. 26, 1838. He is dealt with
in the "House of Gordon" (ii., 323).

William Christian Gordon, St Elizabeth's parish,
guardian of John James Gordon, St Helena, got
£54 compensation for three slaves, April 4, 1836.
A counter claim by Thomas Dougan, legatee, for
£409 was withdrawn (T.71, 1551, claim 215).

William Christian Gordon and his wife, Jane, got
£25 19s 6d for slaves, owned by the wife at St
Helena (T.71, 1551, claim 215).
MONTSERRAT.

This is a very small island, only 33 square miles.
It was discovered by Columbus in 1493, and settled
by the British in 1632. It was French in 1664-8,
and 1782-4, but has since been ours. The following
Gordons were there (though there were more for
the slave commissioners to deal with) : —

Alexander Gordon was appointed to the Council
of Montserrat, Dec. 13, 1765, in place of Edward
Darell, who had left the island (Oliver's "Antigua,"
i., 185: Privy Council Register of England, under
the date Feb. 10, 1766). Alexander Gordon, Col-
lector, Montserrat, was stated by President White,
April 27, 1778, to be going to England. The Pre-
sident recommends Anthony Hodges in his place
(Oliver's "Antigua," ii., 81).

John Gordon, Montserrat, asked Sir John Gordon,
of Invergordon, Nov., 1758, to get him the Collector-
ship of the island. He was a grandson of George
Gordon of Culmaly. In case the collectorship
would not be got, he wanted Sir John to solicit for
him the collectorship of Mariogalante. Sir John
promised to speak to the Duke of Newcastle about
it (MS. : Pocket Book of Sir John Gordon : now in
the possession of Andrew Ross, Ross Herald,
Edinburgh: pp. 462, 463).

NEVIS.

Nevis has only 50 square miles. It was dis-
covered by Columbus, and colonised by the British
in 1628. It was taken by the French in 1782, but
restored to England in 1783.

39

Ann Gordon, parish of St Thomas, Lowland, got
£119 13s 4d compensation for eight slaves, Feb. 15,
1836 (T.71, 1563, claim 142).

James Gordon was made Collector at Nevis, Aug.
20, 1733 ("Customs Book," P.R.O., xiii., p. 397). On
July 4, 1739, the Court of Errors affirmed a judg-
ment of the Court of King's Bench and Common
Pleas in an action of scandal and defamation
brought against John Woodley, merchant, Nevis,
by James Gordon and William Wells of Nevis,
merchants, for words spoken by him in order to
deprive the plaintiffs of their reputation, business,
and livelihood in the way of consignment of negroes,
and to deter and hinder His Majesty's subjects
from consigning any negroes to and have dealings
with them. John Woodley appealed against this
to the Committee of the Privy Council, which
dismissed his appeal, May 7, 1741 ("Acts of the
Privy Council,'' Colonial, vol. iii., No. 505). Gordon
got leave, Feb. 17, 1743 ("Customs Book," P.R.O.,
xv., p. 184).

ST CHRISTOPHER OR ST KITTS.

This island contains only 65 square miles. It
was discovered by Columbus in 1483, and colonised
both by the British and French, but was finally
ceded to Britain in 1713.

James Gordon, Knockespock, bought the Muddy
Pond estate in parcels in 1737, 1738, and 1742.
There were no slaves on it. Up to 1820 it pro-
duced £90 rent, but "nothing since." Mr Gordon
also owned 11,932 square feet in Basseterre (Oliver's
"Antigua," ii., 27).

ST. CROIX.

This little island was purchased from the French
by Christian VI. of Denmark in 1733. It was taken
by Sir Alexander Cochrane, Dec. 22, 1807, but
restored in 1814.

Dr John Gordon, St Croix, is commemorated by
a tomb in Bath Abbey, bearing the inscription, "Dr
John Gordon, M.D., of the island of St Croix,
West Indies, [died J January 30, 1707, aged 53" :
with the motto, "Vel Pax, vel Bellum." He seems
to be the "John Gordon, M.D., Physician to the
King of Denmark for the Danish East [sic] Indies,"
who died at Bath, Feb. 16, 1807 ("Scots Mag.").
Lady Commerell informed me, Aug. 4, 1911, that
Dr Gordon had a brother Cosmo, a son of George,
who died unmarried, and two daughters, Elizabeth
(who married William Stedman), and one who
married M'Caul. On the other hand, Mrs S.

40

S. Fischer, Thetford, Berkhamsted, told Miss L. S.
Lumsden, Aberdeen, May 23, 1910, that Dr Gor-
don's sisters (not daughters) were Mrs M'Caul of
Craigbank and Mrs Stedman. "His wife was

Sarah , daughter of an Aberdeenshire family,

and his only son was George, captain in the 42nd
(Black Watch), who survived the battle of Toulouse.
. . . Dr Gordon was an Aberdeenshire laird. . . .
he was of the house of Lesmoir. My greatgrand-
father did not own "Gordon Rock," St Croix. This
was the property of his daughter, Mrs Buttelle,
my grandmother. Dr Gordon was my father's
grandfather." That there was some such relation-
ship is seen by the fact that Cosmo Gordon, for-
merly of St Croix, was represented in a claim on
an estate in Trinidad (q. v.) by John Gordon
M'Caul and William Stedman of St Cruix (T.71,
1575, claim 1662). Lady Commerell states that
"old Mr John Gordon of Mount Bio, near Dum-
barton, was cousin of the father of Mrs Stedman
and Mrs M'Caul and guardian of the latter."

John Gordon, Coyne Valley, died at St Croix,
July 22, 1824, in his 83rd year ("Scots Magazine,"
vol. 15, N.S., p. 767).

Dr William Gordon, physician, St Croix, had a
son, George, who was made a burgess of Banff,
1767 (Cramond's "Annals of Banff," ii., 424).

ST LUCIA.

This island contains 233 square miles. It was
first settled by the British in 1639, but they were
expelled by the natives. It was settled by the
French in 1650, but was taken by the British in
several subsequent wars. It was siezed by Britain
in 1802, and confirmed to her, 1814:

Daniel Glasford Gordon was an attorney at
Castries parish, Gros Ilet, St Lucia, in 1821 (T.71,
1564, claim 49). As administrator of Lucien Rameau
he claimed for twelve slaves, at Palma, in 1836
(Ibid., claim 60).

Robert Cruden Gordon, parish of Castries, got
£176 9s 5d compensation for five slaves, Dec. 21,
1835 (T.71, 1564, claim 284). As administrator of
the succession of the late Dr de la Busquiere, he
claimed £9441 for 142 slaves on Mons. Durand Ve.
Finturier's estate of Beansejour, a quarter of
Soufriere, 1836 (Ibid., claim 495). Gordon also
claimed on a notarial bond, dated 10th June, 1830,
for three slaves belonging to Veuve Bernard Pari-
gan, L'Esperance, Soufriere (Ibid., claim 523).

41

ST VINCENT.

This island contains 140 square miles. It was
long considered a neutral island, but at the peace
of 1763 France agreed that the right to it be vested
in Great Britain. We engaged in a war against
the Caribs, who had to consent to a peace, by
whioh they ceded a large tract of land to the
British Crown. In 1779 the Caribs greatly contri-
buted to the reduction of the island by the French,
who restored it to us in 1783. In 1795 the French
again instigated the Caribs to revolt, and the
rising took several months to subdue.

Catherine Gordon, Kingstown, had one slave on
Oct. 14, 1817 (T.71, p. 616).

Elizabeth Gordon, owner in fee, Calliaqua, got
£58 15s compensation for two slaves, Feb. 12, 1836
(T.71, 1573, claim 523).

Harriet Gordon, Bow Wood, got £163 19s 3d
compensation for five slaves, Feb. 22, 1836 (T.71,
1573, claim 596).

James Adam Gordon [of Knockespock], owner in
fee, Fair Hall, St George's, had 248 slaves. He
withdrew his claim, Aug. 28, 1835, in favour of
Sir William Abdy, bart., Sir Thomas Fellowes, kt.,
Rev. George Caldwell, clerk, and James Adam
Gordon. On Feb. 22, 1836, compensation to the
amount of £6438 13s 7d was awarded to the counter
claimants (T.71, 1573, claim 549).

Jane, otherwise Jeanette Gordon, Mary Gordon,
and Lucinda Gordon, of Rousseau, Dominica, as
annuitant under the will of Anthony Gordon ; and
Harriet Gordon Hill, and John Hill, as guardians
of Henrietta J. Hill by the will of Robert Gordon,
entered, in 1835, a counter claim to that of John,
Robert, and Gordon Thomson, who had claimed
for 79 slaves on the Spring estate. Henrietta
Gordon Hill had an annuity of £50 under the will
of Robert Gordon (T.71, 1573, claim 645). Hen-
rietta Gordon Hill, Kingstown, St Vincent, got
£71 2s for two slaves, Feb. 8, 1837 (Ibid., claim
351).

TOBAGO.

This island contains 114 square miles. The pre-
sent Gordons of Newton, originally a Portsoy
family, made a fortune there, and the Gordons of
Cluny were largely interested in the plantations.
Among other Gordons on the island was

Judge Gordon, who with five males slaves and
one female, appears in a census of 1753 (Oliver's
"Antigua," vol. i., p. cxiii.).

42

TORTOLA.

This is one of the Virgin Islands. It was settled
by Dutch buccaneers about 1648. They were ex-
pelled in 1666 by the British, who have since held
it. Small though Tortola is, there were several
Gordons there : —

Joseph G. Gordon. — William Pickering, Tortola,
as trustee for the estate of Reef Island, under the
will of Joseph G. Gordon and Ellen, his wife, got
£156 14s compensation for 11 slaves, Oct. 24, 1836
(T.71, 1564, claim 49).

Daniel Hubbard Outerbridge Gordon was ap-
pointed Treasurer of the Virgin Islands, March 7,
1844 ("Gentleman's Magazine," vol. 21, New Series,
p. 415). He was appointed Chief Justice of the
Virgin Islands, June 27, 1846. He was the son of
William Gordon, Tortola (Ibid., vol. 26, New Series,
p. 193).

Eleanor Eliza Gordon, St George, Tortola, owner
in fee, claimed for six slaves ; but £85 15s was paid,
Oot. 24, 1836, to the counter claimants, William
George Cribb and William Rogers Isaacs, as as-
signees in priority of compensation, towards the
payment of £219 10s due on a bond of assignation,
dated April 25, 1835 (T.71, 1564, claim 206). William
Rogers Isaacs himself got £289 compensation for
20 slaves at Road Town (Ibid., claim 41). Miss
Eleanor Eliza Gordon, formerly of Tortola, "but
now supposed to be married and living somewhere
in Scotland," was requested to communicate with
Thomas and Roberts, solicitors, Worcester ("Times,"
Nov. 5, 1849).

Francis Cavalie Gordon. — Henry James Dyer, St
George's, Tortola, as surviving trustee of Sarah
Williams Gordon, for the issue of Francis Cavalie
Gordon and Sarah, his wife, was awarded £72 10s
9d compensation for six slaves, Oct. 24, 1836 (T.71,
1564, claim 69).

William Gordon, St George's, Tortola, had seven
slaves. A counter claim was entered by Elizabeth
Simpson, of No. 1 Abbey Place, Regent's Park,
London, who claimed under the will of her father,
Isaac Pickering (which was dated June 16, 1802),
one slave in the possession of William Gordon. On
Dec. 13, 1836, it was stated that William Gordon
was dead, and that his son, Daniel Hubbard Outer-
bridge Gordon, had administered his estate. Daniel
got compensation to the extent of £100 13s Id,
Nov. 21, 1836 (T.71, 1564, claim 1). Daniel also got
£39 15s 9d on Oct. 24, 1836, for thr^e slaves on
43

behalf of the late Martha Harris King, St George,
Tortola (Ibid., claim 54).

TRINIDAD.

Next to Jamaica, Trinidad is the largest British
island in the West Indies, covering an area of 1754
square miles. It was discovered by Columbus in
1498. It was taken from the Spaniards by Sir
Walter Raleigh in 1595, and by the French from
the British in 1676. It capitulated to Sir Ralph
Abercromby in 1797, and our possession of it was
confirmed by the Peace of Amiens, 1802. One of
the leading men on the island at this moment is
Mr William Gordon Gordon.

Cosmo Gordon, formerly of St Croix ; John
Gordon M'Caul ; and William Stedman of St Croix,
as the executors of Cosmo Gordon, formerly of St
Croix, put in a counter claim (17th Sept., 1835) on
the claim of Robert Montgomerie and G. G. Mac-
dougal, Devilla estate, Savonetta, Trinidad, who
had 160 slaves, on the ground that they were
mortgagees by deed dated 6th May, 1825, claiming
for £7096 with further interest on £5852 from April
28, 1825. There was also a counter claim by Ann
Macdougal, wife of William Pearman, devisee under
the will of George Gordon, for £2274 (T.71, 1575,
claim 1662). See John, St Croix.

Fanchionette Gordon, of San Fernanda, guardian
of Mary Banks, North Naparinna, got £154 17s 5d
compensation for four slaves, March 28, 1855 (T.71,
1575, claim 1710). As owner in fee at North
Naparinna, she hereby got £128 0s 2d for two
slaves (Ibid., xi., claim 1733).

Thomas Gordon, Port of Spain, had two slaves,
for whom his guardian, Eliza Kennedy Wilson,
claimed. She was appointed his guardian by the
Court, July 11, 1836. She had two slaves of her
own, for whom she got £44 7s 4d compensation,
Feb. 29, 1836 (T.71, 1574, claim 508). It was stated,
Oct. 5, 1836, that the two slaves in claim 508 were
the issue of a slave condemned, and were regis-
tered as the property of Thomas Gordon (Ibid.,
claim 509).

William Gordon Gordon was born at Portpatrick
in 1848, and educated at Musselburgh and Durham
Grammar School. He entered the office of An-
thony Cumming & Co., Trinidad. In 1872 he
begean business on his own account with Campbell
Hannah, and is now head of the firm of Gordon,
Grant & Co. He was made President of the Legis-
lative Council in 1888. He owns large cocoa, cocoa

44

hut, and sugar properties, and has large interests
in Venezuela ("Sphere," Feb., 1903). He married
in 1872, Gertrude Maude, youngest daughter of the
Hon. John Scott Bushe, C.M.G., Colonial Secretary
of Trinidad. She died suddenly of heart failure
at Knowsley, Port of Spain, 1913. Their only
daughter, Alice Maude Mary, married at All Saints,
Port of Spain, January 21, 1905, Reginald Edmund
Harriss, late of the Lancashire Fusiliers. Mr
Gordon married secondly, Oct. 9, 1913, at St Mary
Abbots, Kingston, Mary Jeannie, widow of George
F. Bushe, Trinidad, and elder daughter of Sir
David Wilson, K.C.M.G. ("Times," Oct. 11).

CONVICTS FOR THE COLONIES.

Something has been said in these articles about
the deporting of convicts to the Colonies. The
subject is peculiarly topical, for a long chapter
(pp. 97-170) is devoted to Banishment in Mr George
Ives's scholarly new book, "A History of Penal
Methods : Criminals, Witches, Lunatics," issued
last week by Stanley Paul, London. Some
industrious soul will yet go over the file of the
"Aberdeen Journal" and pick out the cases. Mean-
time, let me cite a few.

1765, June 3. — William Gordon, an old soldier,
was sentenced at the Aberdeen Circuit Court to
banishment for life in the plantations for theft in
the previous May ("Aberdeen Journal").

1785, Oct. 2. — Janet Gordon, from Cairnie, or
Mills of Cullithy, was sentenced at the Inverness
Circuit Court to transportation for housebreaking
("Aberdeen Journal").

1789, Jany. 28. — Mary Gordon, from Dundee, was
sentenced at Aberdeen to be banished from the
country for the theft of a clock ("Aberdeen
Journal").

1730. — Jane Gordon at Shields, apparently a
Scotswoman, was sentenced to transportation. She
appealed to Lord Selkirk in a petition now pre-
served at the Public Record Office, London (S.P.
Dom. Entry Books, vol. 257, p. 55) : — "Your Lord-
ship's petitioner has been notoriously abused by
one Richard Hinds, who came into your petitioner's
shop and asked for a dram, and was answered by
her she had none. Upon which, the said Hinds
swore and curs'd, and called your petitioner several
ill names, and would not go away till he had a
dram. Upon which, your petitioner, seeing him so
obstinate, gave him a dram of such as she had,
45

which they call 'Parliamentary brandy,' and which
she kept in her house on purpose to oblige her
friends and customers that come to lay out money
with her, she and her husband then living in very
good credit and endeavouring in an honest way
to get a livelihood by selling bread, butter, cheese,
fish, etc. It can be proved that your petitioner
had paid to some bread bakers at Newcastle £20
a year for rye bread, to others £10, to some £12,
and £15, and never wronged any body in her life.

"May it please your lordship the reason of your
petitioner's distressing her self in this way is that
after the said Hinds had drunk the dram he asked
for, he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket,
and threw it down on the table and said : — 'You
bitch, there is two lines will send you to Morpeth
gaol.'

"Your petitioner, may it please your honour,
surprised at these words, snatched the paper off
the table, and held it in her hand till her husband
and neighbours came in, the 6aid Hinds having
her then by the throat, and if she had not had
timely assistance [she] might have been strungled.

"Your petitioner then showed the paper to her
husband and friends, which, when opened, had not
so much as one word or letter writ in it, nor the
least individual thing wrapped therein.

"The said Hinds, may it please your lordship,
went immediately to a Justice of the Peace, and
swore your petitioner had robbed him of two
guineas, which he said was wrapped up in that
paper mentioned above, tho' there was sufficient
witnesses to prove the contrary. Yet, notwith-
standing, your petitioner was obliged to answer at
the Assizes at Newcastle, where she went without
acquainting any of her friends with it, and was
ordered for transportation without being examined
or speaking so much as one word for her self.

"Your petitioner hopes your lordship will con-
sider the hardships she lies under on account of
this false accusation, which is purely out of spight,
btcause the said Hinds was indebted to your peti-
tioner, and a master of a ship was obliged to pay
the debt for him for the sake of having him to go
a voyage at sea with him; after which he was
often heard to threaten your petitioner's destruc-
tion.

"Your petitiontr, therefore humbly begs that

your lordship, of your abundant goodness, would

be pleased to lend your helping hand to the kind

assistance of a poor unfortunate wretch, who is

46

now plunged in the depths of misery, and cannot
escape her impending fate, unless your lordship
interposes and prevail with Majesty for a royal
pardon."

While on the question of transportation, one may
note that the penitentiary for women at Botany
Bay is described in Mr Tighe Hopkins's new book,
"The Romance of Fraud" (1914: pp. 109-110). The
"Factory," as it was called, "an agreeable retreat,"
was under the charge of a Mrs Gordon. Three
classes of women were admitted — (1) Those who had
not been assigned as servants, on arrival in the
Colony ; (2) those whose masters had returned them
upon the hands of the Government; and (3) those
who, having fulfilled their terms, were biding some
blest reversal of fortune. Mrs Gordon had two
daughters, who were regarded as not the most
perfect examples of virtue to the numerous females
under her charge. Mrs Gordon's "lambs" were
petted. They were never put to work ; and every
girl might be the architect of her own fortune.
The "Factory" was at once a moderately grateful
asylum, show place, and a matrimonial agency.
"It may have been several other things, and was
presumably not the most reputable institution in
the Colony. A child born there was baptised in
the name of the Governor of the Colony. Mrs
Gordon, one may conjecture, retired on a com-
petency." Mr Tighe Hopkins tells me he has
forgotten where he discovered about Mrs Gordon.
Perhaps some of your readers may know.

[THE END.]